Grant equips every Milwaukee fire station with microchip scanners to speed reunions of lost dogs

Citywide rollout adds animal identification tool to Milwaukee Fire Department’s neighborhood response network

All 32 Milwaukee Fire Department stations are being equipped with microchip scanners intended to help identify lost dogs and reunite them with owners. The devices were purchased through a grant from Friends of MADACC, a nonprofit that supports Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) programs and animal-welfare initiatives in Milwaukee County.

The scanners are being introduced through a public event scheduled for Wednesday at Milwaukee Fire Department Station 30, located at 2903 N. Teutonia Ave. The event is designed to demonstrate how responders can use the handheld equipment to quickly check whether a found dog has an implanted microchip that links to ownership information in a registration database.

How the scanners are expected to be used

Microchip scanners read the radio-frequency identification number embedded in a pet’s chip, allowing responders to begin the process of confirming a pet’s identity and contacting an owner. The new placement strategy—one device at every station—aims to create consistent coverage across the city and reduce delays when animals are found outside standard shelter intake hours or far from centralized services.

Firefighters and community-relations personnel will be able to scan dogs brought to stations or encountered during calls where an animal is found loose, injured or separated from its owner. The approach is intended to support faster reunification and potentially reduce unnecessary shelter intake when an owner can be identified promptly.

• All Milwaukee Fire Department stations are slated to receive scanners.
• The rollout is tied to an in-person demonstration at Station 30.
• Dogs currently available for adoption through MADACC are scheduled to be part of the demonstration.

Partners and prior local expansion

The project was spearheaded by Friends of MADACC President Amila Rizvic and carried out with support from animal-welfare volunteer Kristin Catalano and the Milwaukee Fire Department’s Community Relations Section. Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski and Community Relations Director Lt./EMT Carlos Velázquez Sánchez are among the officials involved in the rollout.

Friends of MADACC has previously supported the introduction of microchip scanners for the Milwaukee Police Department, and the organization characterized the fire-station deployment as a broader next step in expanding access points for identifying lost pets.

The new devices give firefighters another option to assist residents during community interactions involving lost dogs, while reinforcing public awareness of microchipping as a permanent identification tool.

Why microchipping matters locally

Microchipping is widely used as a permanent identification method for pets, and MADACC scans incoming animals for chips as part of its intake process. MADACC also offers microchipping services for pet owners in Milwaukee County. The scanner deployment does not replace shelter-based intake or reunification efforts; instead, it adds more neighborhood locations where identification can occur quickly when a dog is found.

City officials and animal-welfare partners described the initiative as a practical operational change: placing scanners closer to where residents and responders already interact, and increasing the number of opportunities to confirm ownership before a dog enters the shelter system.