MILWAUKEE — Crews battled a five-alarm fire early Tuesday morning at Lincoln Avenue School, a Milwaukee Public Schools kindergarten-through-fifth-grade building on the city's south side.
A fire alarm came in at 2:59 a.m. at the school near South 18th Street and West Lincoln Avenue and was upgraded to a full structure fire assignment by 3:04 a.m. after crews arrived to find heavy smoke pouring from the three-story brick building, according to Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski, who held a press conference Tuesday morning.
WATCH: Neighbor reacts to massive fire at Lincoln Avenue School on Milwaukee's south side
“I saw smoke on 14th and Mitchell. So we got in the car and headed this way and saw that the school was on fire,” a neighbor recounted to TMJ4's crew at the scene of the fire.
The fire escalated to a fifth alarm by 4:33 a.m., bringing approximately 31 fire department units and about 110 firefighters to the scene from the Milwaukee, West Allis, Greenfield and Greendale fire departments.
According to the fire chief, firefighters initially attempted to attack the fire from inside but encountered school goods stored in the hallways and pulled out at 3:36 a.m., shifting to a defensive posture using five aerial ladder trucks and additional hand lines from outside.
A security guard who had entered the building to check on the alarm got out safely, and no firefighter injuries were reported, something Chief Lipski said he is thankful for, adding that the building does not have fire sprinklers.
“I'm extremely happy that this happened off-hours and off school season so that there were no kids in this building because this fire appears to have really spread fast,” Chief Lipski said. “And it's testament to the danger that unsprinkled buildings offer to the occupants. So we're just thankful that it was off-hours.”
No evacuations of nearby residences were ordered, though the public was asked to avoid the area.
The cause of the fire remained unknown. Extreme heat and humidity complicated the response, forcing shorter work cycles for firefighters.
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