Seriously burned firefighter released from hospital
By A.J. Bayatpour
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MILWAUKEE (WDJT) — A firefighter seriously injured while responding to a deadly house fire last month returned home from the hospital Friday afternoon.
The Milwaukee Fire Department announced Ryan McMenamin was released Friday afternoon from Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital. McMenamin suffered serious burns when he got trapped fighting an April 14 fire.
As fire spread to three houses on S. 8th St. near W. Lincoln Ave., McMenamin was attempting to save 72-year-old Monica Lemke, who was trapped in her second-floor bedroom.
While McMenamin was on the second floor, Chief Aaron Lipski told reporters that day flames burned up through the floor behind him and into the attic.
Firefighters were able to rescue McMenamin by pulling him through a window and cradling him down a ladder. Unfortunately, Lemke did not survive.
In a press conference later that day outside Ascension St. Mary’s, Lipski told reporters the fire could have easily been even worse.
“This was a very marginal fire,” he said. “I am telling you we are probably 30 seconds away from talking about planning a firefighter funeral today.”
McMenamin left the hospital with his brother, Justin, a West Allis firefighter, his girlfriend, Lauren and his father, Tom, a retired Milwaukee fire lieutenant. Lipski said Tom McMenamin once helped teach firefighters a process called Rapid Intervention Training, a technique used on April 14 to save his son.
Lipski said Ryan and his family still were not ready for interviews.
Upon his release Friday, McMenamin’s fellow firefighters staged a welcoming procession outside Station 27 on the upper east side.
Lipski said McMenamin is still facing several more months of recovery, but he added McMenamin plans on returning to firefighting once he’s fully recovered.
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