MILWAUKEE, WI - As the weather breaks Milwaukee firefighters anticipate being a lot busier—but they aren’t necessarily fighting fires, they’re working to prevent them.
The initiative is called “firefighters out creating urban safety." It isn't a new program, but as warm weather makes its way to Milwaukee the fire department is ramping up its community safety efforts.
“Our goal is to reach out to every single [family home] and two-family home in the city of Milwaukee within five years to make sure that they all have working smoke alarms," Lt. Michael Ball said.
According to Ball, more often than not crews will go into a home and find at least one nonworking alarm. He said with the continuation of this initiative, he hopes to change the way people think about fires.
“People often think if there's a fire they’ll wake up but it doesn’t always work that way," Ball said. “It’s that early warning that’s so critical to save a life."
Ball also said the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive.
"People are happy to [see] us in the neighborhoods," Ball said. "And it's fun to meet different people."
In addition to checking and installing smoke alarms as needed, crews are also ready and willing to check homes for any fire safety issues as the department continues in its commitment to make the city of Milwaukee safer and reduce the number of fires that start in the home.
