MILWAUKEE— The Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) is seeing expansion for the first time in more than a decade.
An increased Milwaukee sales tax, and other measures taken by the city and state, helped make up for 15 years of budget shortfalls.
Now, MFD can reopen several fire houses that were forced to close years ago. One of those is Station 17 on the city’s south side.
“Engine 17 is one of our largest geographic areas that was left with a closed fire station,” said Assistant Chief of Operations Schuyler Belott. “Having those resources back and reopening fire stations helps everybody. We can take better care of our community and better care of our firefighters.”
MFD also added a brand-new ambulance to Station 36 on Milwaukee’s north side, which will allow that station to better respond to a consistently high level of calls for service in that neighborhood.
The work to restock fire houses and add equipment is no easy task. The Milwaukee Fire Department’s repair shop has been working around the clock to update the fire engines, trucks and ambulances that have been sitting idle.
“From the shop, the biggest change was making sure that we had a fire engine that was up and running, that met the standard, within that short period of time,” said Milwaukee Fire Department Deputy Chief Darin Peterburs.
But he said this kind of work is welcomed because it signifies more resources and better service to the community.
“I can tell you that there is a different feeling now,” said Deputy Chief Peterburs. “People are excited. People were jumping to take this assignment at this firehouse. They wanted to be here.”
Assistant Chief Belott said that excitement among the ranks is good to see, after years of witnessing burnout. Budget cuts meant a smaller staff was asked to do more with less.
He said that since 2009, MFD has lost a third of its workforce.
“Each of the last few years, we have been responding to more and more incidents than we ever have in the past,” said Assistant Chief Belott. “That has been with significantly less resources. 30 or 35 percent fewer people working every day and going on 20 to 30 percent more calls collectively has burned our people out.”
MFD’s goal is to hire 200 more firefighters by the end of 2025. The department will double the number of classes offered at its fire academy.
Assistant Chief Belott said it’s getting harder to fill firefighter positions. He said when he first started in the field, there would be 5,000 MFD recruit candidates. Now there are typically about 500.
“The recruitment and retention of firefighters has kind of gotten on our radar, where in the past we had it pretty good, and we took it for granted that people wanted to come here and work here,” he said.
He hopes the department’s growth in 2024 will help attract more people to protect and serve.
“Being able to look forward knowing we are going to be able to provide better service for the city and greater protection for, not only those we serve, but our own firefighters, by having those additional resources.” Belott said.