Madison Fire Dept. Hazardous Incident Team assisting in investigation

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Several law enforcement agencies and first responders, including the Madison Fire Department Hazardous Incident Team, responded to an incident Monday afternoon on the city’s west side. Officials have confirmed few details on what happened.

MFD public information officer Cynthia Schuster confirmed the Hazardous Incident Team is assisting with a law enforcement investigation on the 1400 block of West Skyline Drive.

A WMTV 15 News crew on scene saw several law enforcement officers in the area, including the Madison Police Department, Madison Fire & EMS and the Wisconsin National Guard’s Civil Support Team.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is the lead agency on this incident, Schuster noted.

The DOJ released this statement to WMTV regarding the investigation.

MPD said this is a multi-jurisdictional investigation.

Neighbors in the area said this type of police activity is unusual.

“It’s kind of bizarre,” said John Valley, who lives nearby. “There are a lot of police cars and the lights are going. There are a lot of city utility vehicles. It’s obviously a lot of manpower here, so somebody deems this as a serious situation, but I won’t know any details until they’re released.”

Some residents were unable to get to their homes because of blocked off areas.

One resident, who has two young children, was allowed to be escorted to her home by MPD. Before they let her in, she told WMTV that officers assured her that there was no danger to anybody around.

“I’m worried, obviously, like we wanted to be all good, but yeah, it seems like they’re taking care of whatever needs to be done,” explained Becky Cherkasky.

Neighbors told WMTV that the road was still blocked and officials remained on scene as of 10 p.m.

The DOJ and MPD confirmed that there is no threat to the public.

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