Aaron Lipski, Milwaukee\u2019s new fire chief, remembers vividly the first time he used what he learned at UWM.<\/p>\n
At the time, he was battalion chief in the Milwaukee Fire Department\u2019s construction and maintenance division (the repair facility for all fleet and facility concerns). He was working on a master\u2019s degree in public administration since he\u2019d assumed responsibilities that called for more managerial and budgeting skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn class, we were talking about how you measure the replacement cycle for a fleet \u2013 some standard ways and various recommendations. I left that class and probably stayed up half the night refiguring everything we had previously just done on a hunch. The next day I went before a pretty powerful body here in the city.\u201d\u00a0 The officials were amazed and impressed by what he presented, he recalls.<\/p>\n
Lipski was named the Milwaukee Fire Department chief in May 2021 to serve the one year remaining on the term of former chief Mark Rohlfing. He had been acting chief since Rohlfing retired in October 2020.<\/p>\n
He is the fourth generation in a family of firefighters and was well aware of the physical and mental stress of the job. \u201cI was around it my whole life, but my family never pressured me. In fact, they encouraged me to go to college, do something easier on the body.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad would come home absolutely exhausted after a 24-hour shift. He\u2019d try to take me and my brother fishing and he\u2019d fall asleep 10 feet off the dock.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did follow his family\u2019s advice and earned his college degree \u2013 a bachelor\u2019s in communication from UWM in 2001.<\/p>\n
One day, his dad mentioned that a firefighting exam was coming up and casually asked if he\u2019d be interested.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t fully explain it. It was like a light switch flipped, and I never turned back.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was 24 years ago.<\/p>\n
As the new chief, Lipski sees that the Fire Department is facing some major challenges that will draw on all of his experience and skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, we\u2019ve been struggling with pretty massive budget cuts for the past 10 or 15 years, and it doesn\u2019t look like that\u2019s going to be letting up anytime,\u201d he said. \u00a0While recognizing the cuts are part of overall city efforts to control spending, \u201cfewer stations and crews make it harder to do the job, especially in a large urban setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time that stations are being closed, the need for both firefighting and emergency medical services has increased, which has added mental and physical stress, Lipski said. Firefighters pride themselves on getting the job done, he said, adding \u201cwe need to be leaning forward on ensuring that we\u2019re not causing compassion fatigue and just general fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another major challenge the department faces is increasing diversity, Lipski said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire service nationwide \u2013 and Milwaukee is no different \u2013 has been largely a predominately white male group of employees. There is value in every one of those individuals, and they have saved a ton of lives, but I will tell you we don\u2019t represent demographically the city we serve, and that\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fire Department has been actively recruiting in underrepresented communities and has had some success, Lipski said.<\/p>\n
The department has also begun taking more of a role in public health efforts, providing gun locks as well as smoke detectors, and working with others on opioid prevention efforts and collection of unused prescription drugs. EMTs have also done training with UWM\u2019s College of Nursing to learn to provide follow-up care and support to try to avoid future emergencies.<\/p>\n
Lipski is particularly proud of the role the department has played during the pandemic. The department was instrumental in working together with subject matter experts and city and county agencies to form a crisis response team.<\/p>\n