Photos/Story by Shawn Joannes

On Tuesday, May 21, Milwaukee Fire Department had a "3 Alarm" fire at one of Milwaukee's Finest Historic Mansions. The fire did extensive damage.

The MFD got a call for smoke in a building.

Upon our arrival, we found fire and extreme heat within the building.

Because this is a home to Decorative Arts, there was an extensive art collection.

Battalion 1 and Deputy Chief called in extra companies to help remove priceless and rare pieces of art.

One problem with this fire was access.

There was only one direction to come at the building.

The other sides were protected by limited access and on the east side no access due to a large hill that over looks Lake Michigan.

Another hindrance was there were only 2 gates to enter the complex and shortly after unites started to arrive for safety reasons one of our LTI's (Ladders) had to be positioned in the driveway to set up an emergency egress in case of problems on the multi level roof.

2 Firefighters were injured, both were expected to go home lastnight.