Firefighters are battling a large apartment fire near Lydell and Hampton in Glendale, just north of Estabrook Park.
The fire broke out at the four-story T-shaped apartment complex, with heavy fire and smoke damage to the 3rd and 4th floors and roofline on the northwest corner of the building. Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said the fire appears to have started on the outside of the building on one of the porches.
North Shore Fire Department received the call at 4:41 p.m. and Milwaukee Fire Department received the call at 4:42 p.m. Both departments sent structure fire assignments, and a third alarm was requested upon arrival, bringing a third alarm's worth of equipment to the scene.
"On arrival, we had heavy fire showing from the 3rd floor, the ladder up to it extending up to the 4th floor, and it was already in the roofline burning right through the eaves," Lipski said.
Because the building straddles the boundary between Milwaukee and Glendale, the portion of the building that caught fire falls within the North Shore community, making it a North Shore Fire Department incident with Milwaukee Fire assisting.
"It's a North Shore Fire Department and this is their address, so it's their fire. We're just helping them just like they help us every day," Lipski said.
Crews worked a two-pronged attack, hitting the fire from the outside while also sending crews inside to evacuate residents.
Watch: Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski provides update on apartment fire
"We wanted to make sure that we got all the people out, so we pitched a two-pronged attack. We hit it a little bit from the outside, but we sent crews right onto the inside to start evacuating," Lipski said.
Lipski said all floors have been cleared numerous times, and no one has reported injuries or smoke inhalation.
Two units were directly damaged by fire. Additional units may have sustained water and smoke damage, and fire that reached the roofline may affect other units as well. Lipski said he had not yet been up to the roofline to assess the full extent of the damage.
Residents told TMJ4 News that they had recently received new fire alarms and sprinkler systems in the building, and said they were grateful that those systems activated during the fire. Lipski credited the sprinkler system with limiting how far the fire spread inside the building.
"Not a ton of fire got into the units. It was mostly on the exterior porches and then up into the roofline. That is the nature of a sprinkler system. It can stop fire spread that dramatically," Lipski said.
Lipski said the roofline itself does not have a sprinkler system, and without the efforts of North Shore and Milwaukee firefighters, the fire could have spread much further.
"Sprinklers are awesome, smoke alarm system's awesome. Occupants and residents who evacuate the building instead of second-guessing it — that's the gold standard. And it really looks like everybody did that here today, so kudos to the occupants," Lipski said.
Watch: Large apartment fire burns building at Lydell and Hampton in Glendale
The American Red Cross, We Energies electric and gas crews, and multiple police departments are also on scene assisting with the response.
Lipski said crews expect to remain on scene for another one and a half to two hours, and that investigators still need to determine the exact cause of the fire. He said officials hope to allow some residents back into the building sooner than that, but it depends on the investigation and confirmation that no hotspots remain.
The number of displaced residents is not yet known. Lipski said that determination depends in part on how much of the building was affected by gas and electric shutoffs.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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