An act of heroism: MPD officers credited with saving family from burning home say they were just doing their job



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Officers from the Milwaukee Police Department's District 2 are being called heroes after they saved a family from a burning home early Thursday, February 12th.

District 2 Sergeant Rebecca Carpenter was on patrol just after 1:00 a.m. when she saw a large amount of smoke in the area of S. 16th Street and W. Burnham Street. She then found a home on fire in the 1700 block of S. 15th Place.

"I saw a fair amount of smoke. My mind was just on making sure everyone was out," Sgt. Carpenter said.



Sgt. Carpenter along with Officer James Spinato and Officer Jason Stachowiak put the lives of the occupants above their own and entered the home to alert the occupants of the fire. They gathered up the five people in the home, including a 10-year-old boy, and brought them to safety.

"We were able to wake the people by pounding on the door, which was fortunate because the next step was gonna be kicking it," Sgt. Carpenter said.

"The mother who owned the home and her daughter came to the door initially, once they kinda realized what was going on. Three males exited the house -- one child and two adults," Officer Spinato said.

The group then went back into the home to make sure no one was left behind -- checking every room of the home.

"Upon reaching the very back of the house, the upstairs was completely engulfed in smoke and flames," Officer Stachowiak said.

"It was getting smoky. All three of us weren`t feeling so well after," Sgt. Carpenter said.

"In the moment you`re just going in to try and make sure there`s nobody in that. I went upstairs and all I saw was kids' beds," Officer Spinato said.



The smoke alarms went off just as firefighters pulled in. The extra minutes the family had to get out may well have saved lives. No one was injured in this incident.

"One of the gentlemen came running out with no shirt on and it was about single digits. We got 'em into a squad right away so they weren`t cold because they were definitely not dressed for the weather," Sgt. Carpenter said.

The occupants were all very thankful for the heroic actions of the police.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined but it’s believed to be electrical in nature.

These officers say they had some headaches from the smoke, but they're otherwise okay. They say they were simply doing their job.