Fire departments across the state have spent the past week helping the Appleton Fire Department. Fire Departments stepped up to help following the shooting death of an Appleton firefighter last week. Fond du Lac Fire Chief Pete O’Leary worked as the Appleton Fire Department Public Information Officer Monday from 8am to 11pm. “We provided all the Appleton firefighters with the chance to pay their respects to their brother without having to worry about emergency responses in their city,” O’Leary told WFDL news. O’Leary says the deadly shooting shows how dangerous the job has become outside of the inherent danger of fighting fires. “What happened to Mitchell (Lundgaard) could happen to anyone, any day. There’s a lot of uncertainty that goes along inherently with what we do, a level of awareness that fire and rescue workers have going on these calls always has to be high. There’s really nothing routine any longer.”
