A vehicle collided with a Milwaukee fire engine early Wednesday morning, April 22, near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.
The car’s two occupants were taken to a hospital, but none of the four occupants of the firetruck reported any injuries, Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said. The fire engine was totaled.
Lipski said the crash happened just after 2 a.m., about a block north of the intersection of 13th Street and Layton Avenue, when a car driving north swerved over the center line and struck the southbound firetruck.
The fire engine was just leaving a call for service to return to the fire station. It had just started heading south at a slow speed when the car hit them head on, Lipski said.
“The driver of our fire engine, because of where the impact occurred, was unable to get out of the firetruck door, so he had to crawl over the hump and out the back door,” Lipski said. “The members kind of just shook it off – thankfully none of them were seriously injured – and they just went right to work trying to help the two individuals in the car.”
The vehicle’s passenger was able to be brought out, but the driver had to be extricated from the vehicle, Lipski said. Both were transported to Froedtert Hospital.
Lipski said he was not able to share any information on their conditions.
The cab of the fire engine ignited from the impact of the collision and was incinerated, Lipski said.
The Milwaukee Police Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the crash. The fire department said police are handling the crash investigation.
The totaled fire engine means the Milwaukee Fire Department has one less vehicle in its already strained fleet. Lipski has been vocal about the need for more funding to replace his department’s aging fleet of trucks, some still in use well beyond their 15-20 year lifespan. Milwaukee has joined other municipalities in suing three leading fire truck manufacturers, accusing them of colluding to limit supply and drive up prices.
In recent years, the fire department’s budget requests have not been met by the city budget, but for the 2026 budget, city council members overrode a mayoral veto to increase the fire department’s funding from the mayor’s proposed $2 million to $10 million.
Lipski said the impact of losing a fire engine “remains to be seen.”
“Truth be told, we’ll sort through that later,” he said. “We’re just happy that the members are OK.”
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wrong-way crash in Milwaukee leaves 2 injured, fire engine totaled
Reporting by Kelli Arseneau, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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