Milwaukee facing ambulance shortage after company drops out
Private ambulance service leaving Milwaukee, adding to strained system
One of three private ambulance services used by the city to handle non-life-threatening 911 calls is leaving. That is putting pressure on an already strained system.
MILWAUKEE - The ambulance service board is set to meet at 9 a.m. Monday morning. They re expected to discuss the pending departure of a private ambulance service.
Midwest Medical, who owns Paratech Ambulance, recently sent a letter to Acting Fire Chief Aaron Lipski, terminating their contract with the city.
They re one of three private ambulance services used by the city to handle 911 calls.
Starting Sunday, the Milwaukee Fire Department will dedicate two ambulances for lower-level 911 calls, a short-term solution to a gap in services created after one of three private ambulance companies stopped contracting with the city.
The move is expected to free up fire engines and paramedic units which have been forced to spend more time on less serious 911 calls in recent months to be available for more critical incidents, Acting Fire Chief Aaron Lipski told the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission on Thursday.
For the next five to six months, the two ambulances will supplement the department’s 12 paramedic units by absorbing calls that the remaining private ambulance services cannot take.
Effort to check homes for smoke alarms leads to life-saving discovery
Published
Effort to check homes for smoke alarms leads to life-saving discovery
The Milwaukee Fire Department recognized community volunteers who helped get nearly 40 smoke alarms installed throughout the Clarke Square Neighborhood.
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee alderwoman happened to be in the right place at the right time. JoCasta Zamarripa could smell gas as she passed by a home while canvassing a neighborhood. Two adults and three children had to be evacuated.
The alderwoman was knocking on doors in the Clarke Square neighborhood to make sure residents had working smoke alarms. That is when she noticed a woman trying to get her attention.
Fire displaces about 40 people on Milwaukee s west side, continuing recent rash of fires in difficult weather Elliot Hughes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee’s tragic rash of apartment fires continued early Saturday when 40 people on the city’s west side were displaced after a 16-unit building caught fire.
The fire, which left two people injured, adds to a brutal 10-day period beginning Jan. 28 in which two people have died and approximately 175 people have been displaced from fires in Milwaukee.
Fire crews were called to the 800 block of North 25th Street, in the Avenues West neighborhood, at 4 a.m. Saturday, according to a statement from the Milwaukee Police Department. One apartment in the 16-unit building caught fire.