Milwaukee firefighters brave the cold while battling fires



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It doesn't matter the day, time, or weather, Milwaukee firefighters always have to be ready to go.

"Despite all of our preparations Mother Nature wins in some cases and we just have to do everything we can to fight back," said Milwaukee Fire Department Deputy Chief Aaron Lipski.

In this fight back, the Milwaukee Fire Department has had extra crews on hand this week to relieve firefighters working in the bitter cold.

"Your body may shut down, you may start to cramp up. You're freezing so you want to get to a warm spot and then it's even worse if you're warming up and you try to go back out in that cold," said Milwaukee Firefighter Jason Strez.

Although many firefighters don't want to leave the job, officials will make them take a break.

"Sometimes you have to absolutely force them go back in and climb in your fire truck, you've out here for x number of minutes in the bitter cold you're soaking wet right now that is the safety issue," said Deputy Chief Lipski.

The frigid temperatures can also cause equipment failures and frozen hydrants.

"We already send more fire trucks in cold weather and that's for situations where we have a frozen hydrant in one direction and we can get set up in another direction," said Deputy Chief Lipski.

Training is important for situations like Monday night into Tuesday morning when firefighters were forced to brave the cold and battle 4 fires.

"Everyone of them stepped up last night and just did what they needed to do," said Deputy Chief Lipski.

An act of selflessness to keep the community safe.

Milwaukee fire officials say they were no injuries in last night's fires.

They say one of the fires appeared to be electrical the others are still under investigation.