Wisconsin Ambulance Safety Inspection Program Comes Under Scrutiny

While Wauwatosa Fire Department officials say they have no problems with how ambulances are inspected, others raise concerns that some ambulances in Wisconsin just shouldn't be on the road.

Ten years ago, the lives of an ambulance crew in central Wisconsin were changed forever when a balding tire caused their vehicle to lose traction on a wet highway, skid across the median and roll over. In the resulting accident, the patient being transported died and the crew was injured, none more so than Matt Deicher of Mosinee. “I flew and hit my face onto the back doors of the ambulance,” Deicher told WISN 12 News. Deicher was paralyzed. He believes the July 2003 accident could have been prevented "very, very easily." Just two days earlier, the lone state ambulance inspector gave the Mosinee Fire Department 10 days to replace balding tires on the vehicle. The crew was unaware of the report before the run. A decade later, not much has …

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Tosa Fire Department Asks for a Hand in Clearing Hydrants

Snow-covered hydrants are a hazard to you and your neighbors, so the Wauwatosa Fire Department asks residents to take a little extra time and "adopt a hydrant."

Imagine if you had a house fire — it starts out not all that bad, but it gets a lot worse, quick, because the Fire Department can't find the hydrant nearest your house. Would just the thought of that prompt you to take an few extra thrusts of the old snow shovel to help out your firefighters, your neighbors and yourself? The Wauwatosa Fire Department is reminding all businesses and residents to keep fire hydrants clear of snow and visible from the street. As a result of our recent and predicted snow accumulations, many fire hydrants have become covered in snow, making them difficult to find and access in an emergency. The Fire Department asks that you please take an active role by “adopting a hydrant” and clearing the snow from any nearby …

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Saturday Morning Fire Hits Area Grinding Plant

Wauwatosa firefighters responded to a blaze at Walenta Grinding near 126th Street and Burleigh Avenue in Brookfield. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters from 10 area departments, including Wauwatosa, responded to a Saturday morning blaze at a Brookfield grinding plant on 126th Street, just north of Burleigh Road. Patch's media partners at WISN Channel 12 are reporting that the fire at Walenta Grinding, 3150 N. 126th St., broke out around 9 a.m. An off-duty police officer saw smoke in the area and called 911, WISN reported. The fire was confined to one small area of the building and no injuries were reported, according to WISN. It was brought until control around 10 a.m. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that more than 10 area fire departments assisted in battling the blaze. Walenta Grinding was founded in 1949 and is a centerless grinding machine shop that provides …

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The Week Ahead: Mayfair Collection Finally Moves Forward

Blot on the city's escutcheon will at last be erased with approval of final plan for Burleigh Triangle, but another much-debated measure – the right to keep chickens – is a far less sure thing.

When the Wauwatosa Common Council convenes Tuesday night, two loooooong-discussed propositions will finally move forward – or, perhaps, again be stopped in their tracks. In one case, approval is such a foregone conclusion the vote is really but a necessary formality. The council's nod will at last launch HSA Commercial Real Estate in its redevelopment of the Burleigh Triangle, something the city has been striving for over many years. Former Roundy's distribution center warehouses north of Burleigh Street and west of Highway 45 will become The Mayfair Collection retail center, including a Nordstrom Rack, Sak's Off Fifth, ULTA and Dick's Sporting Goods stores, among others. Restaurants are also being recruited for the development but none …

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Week Ahead: Mayor Launches District Town Hall Meetups

Citizens of each aldermanic district, beginning with No. 2, will get a chance to talk to their elected officials about issues in their neighborhoods.

Wauwatosa Mayor Kathy Ehley and the Common Council members representing each of Tosa's eight aldermanic districts will begin this week a series of informal Town Hall-style meetings to hear and discuss issues of interest or concern to citizens. The first meeting will be for District 2, where Ehley will be joined by Alds. Kathleen Causier and John Dubinski. It will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Wauwatosa Woman's Club, 1626 Wauwatosa Ave. Among the issues on the agenda for discussion are: Citizens of the 2nd District are welcome to bring up other items for discussion. District 2 encompasses most of the Village east to North 68th Street; Hart Park and a few homes south of the Menomonee River; the northeast quadrant of the County …

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Betty Rubble

7:48 am on Monday, January 28, 2013

Great idea. They finally learned from the Meinecke sewer debacle that they need to inform and engage with their constituents.   more ›

Fire Stations to Double as Peanut Butter Donation Sites

All Milwaukee County fire departments have partnered with the Hunger Task Force to help increase donations of the nutritious and kid-friendly food.

  As the cost of peanut butter reached an all-time high in 2012, the Hunger Task Force's supply of the delicious, nutritious and kid-friendly food began running low. And while people across the county are willing to donate, getting to the Hunger Task Force food bank at 201 S. Hawley Court in Milwaukee during its hours of operation of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. is not always an easy task. Enter: local fire departments. All of Milwaukee County’s fire departments — more specifically, the 60 fire stations in the county — will be public peanut butter donation centers for the Hunger Task Force starting today, Jan. 17. “I had seen the need for peanut butter. Then I thought, ‘Why haven’t I donated peanut butter?’ said Greenfield Fire Chief Jon Cohn, who …

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Small Chemical Spill at Children's Hospital Contained

A quart of acetic acid spills on lab floor prompts a hazardous materials response for clean up, with no injuries and no evacuations.

Fire Inspector Facing Misdemeanor Domestic Violence Charge

54-year-old Henry Wendt was arrested last weekend.

UPDATED: No Injuries in House Fire on Washington Circle.

People were inside but everyone got out, and the fire was extinguished by 1:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported a house fire in the Washington Highlands neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. The fire started in a second-floor bedroom and climbed into the attic of the Italianate residence at 6190 Washington Circle, Fire Chief Rob Ugaste said. It was reported at 12:42 p.m., Ugaste said. As of 1:10 p.m., some smoke was still billowing out of the crown of the roof and firefighters were smashing through the ornate tile roof with axes. By 1:30 p.m., the fire was extinguished, fire officials said. However, firefighters remained on the scene cutting charred sections out of the roof. One resident was home at the time and escaped safely, Ugaste said. Wauwatosa Assistant Fire Chief Scott Erke said that while the immediate cause of the …

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Coal Fire Smolders On at County Grounds Power Plant

Fire ignites early Sunday in hopper high in power plant structure, and electrical concerns limit options of firefighters after airport foam fails to smother it.

  A fire that ignited Sunday morning inside a coal hopper on the sixth floor of the We Energies power plant on the County Grounds continues to burn after a day of efforts to put it out, and it may be days more before it can be fully extinguished, the Wauwatosa fire chief said. The ongoing, simmering fire is not thought to pose any danger to the public. At 7:16 a.m. Sunday, the Fire Department was called to the WE Energies plant on Watertown Plank Road involving about 100 tons of coal in a 25-foot-deep hopper on the sixth floor of the building. Given the unusual nature of the fire, a foam unit from General Mitchell International Airport Fire Department, a command vehicle from the Oak Creek Fire Department, engines from Brookfield and West …

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