Belleville WI Volunteer Fire Department

09/15/2026

More information from this morning’s incident.

BELLEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT ACTIVE ASSAILANT ALARM

At 10:51 a.m. Dane County 9-1-1 received notification of an active assailant alarm from the School District of Belleville. With the activation of this alarm, the school district went into lockdown.

As with a call of this nature Belleville, Dane County, Mount Horeb, McFarland, Oregon, and Verona law enforcement agencies were dispatched. In addition to Belleville WI Volunteer Fire Department and Sugar River EMS.

Dispatch received a description of a person of interest and direction of travel. Based on the information being provided to Dispatch the Belleville Police located and detained the person of interest in the 500 block W Church Street. The person of interest was detained without incident. School District officials were able to positively identify the individual in question.

The individual was cooperative with law enforcement and through investigation determined there was no firearm, and they were not a threat to the students and staff of school district.

It’s important to reiterate – there was no active threat and no firearm involved in this incident.

Chief Hughes thanks our law enforcement, Dane 9-1-1, Dane County Emergency Management, and school district partners for their quick response this morning.

The first responders in this community and the school district train together for this very event. In addition, to the school district's improvements to their facilities and protocols to address an active assailant threat allowed us to prepare and respond for the worst. We are relieved we did not need to put this training to greater use today.

Once it was determined there was no threat to the community, our focus shifted to supporting the wellbeing of the students and staff impacted by this event.

The School District of Belleville in cooperation with the Wisconsin Office of School Safety has resources in place to assist students, their parents, and staff process today's event. For further information contact the school your student attends.

RELEASED BY:

Chris P. Hughes
Chief of Police

09/15/2026

Press conference had been pushed back to 2:15pm

Belleville Police, Fire, EMS, and school officials will hold a media briefing at 1:30 this afternoon to talk about this morning's incident at the school. The briefing will be held at the Belleville Police Department.

09/10/2026

Some may ask why we hook a hydrant on an alarm.

Some may ask why we put on our SCBA’s for an alarm, when the owner says they don’t know why the alarm is sounding.

Some may ask why we bring tools, water cans, thermal imaging devices and gas meters to alarm calls.

Our department has the mindset to EXPECT FIRE EXPECT VICTIMS every time it’s “just an alarm”. Seconds count and fire can show is face at a moment’s notice when least expected.

Our members show up ready to go no matter the situation or time of day.

This photo is from a call around noon today. Belleville Engine 2 was on scene in under 5 minutes with a Chief already on scene. A second engine and second Chief were on scene moments later.

That is 10 volunteers who dropped what they were doing to show up. With more at the station as we returned.

We never want to answer the question of why were you not ready. We train hard, ask a lot of our volunteers and they show up all the time for the community and our neighbors. We are proud of that and look to continue and grow as our community grows around us.

09/04/2026

When the call comes in, our crew needs to be ready—not just with the right skills, but with the physical strength to get the job done safely.

​Here are five of our Belleville Volunteer Fire Department crew putting in the sweat equity and finishing up a tough morning workout! 💦

​While these five are in the spotlight today, readiness is a department-wide commitment. Whether it’s solo lifting sessions, daily walks/runs, cycling, group fitness classes, or local sports leagues, our firefighters are constantly putting in the off-hours work to stay strong, healthy, and ready to respond.

​We train hard so we can show up for our community when you need us most.

09/04/2026

BIG NEWS!

The Belleville Fire Department is equipping 7 fire fighters with AED’s. Thanks in part to Grant funding from Compeer Financial we were able to purchase these life saving devices.

Because our fire fighters live in the community and respond from their homes this puts the life saving power of an AED closer to you our neighbors! More than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of the hospital annually in the United States. Using an AED with in 3 minutes of a cardiac arrest has been shown to increase survival 38%-70%.

Again, this would not have been possible without this grant. A special thank you to Compeer Financial for supporting our community!

08/28/2026

Did you know the Belleville WI Volunteer Fire Department has a group of firefighters who make up a Rescue Task Force (RTF)?

The RTF group trains multiple times per year and recently we had the opportunity to run all of our members through Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) training in partnership with School District of Belleville, Sugar River EMS, Dane County Emergency Management, Belleville WI Police Department, Dane County Sheriff's Office, and additional local first responders.

RTF programs train EMS and Fire personnel to treat patients during active threat or violent incidents alongside law enforcement.

Small rural fire departments rarely maintain formal RTF programs. Thanks to a core group of dedicated firefighters, strong leadership, and fundraising, our department has the manpower and necessary equipment to maintain functional RTF response capability.

A special thank you to all of our partners listed above for making this training possible.

08/22/2026

🚨FIRST RESPONDER TRAINING MONDAY🚨
On Monday, August 24th our School District will be conducting an Active Shooter Incident Management training exercise in partnership with local and regional first responders. The training will take place at the Elementary School, beginning at 5:00 PM and lasting approximately four (4) hours.

This exercise is designed to improve coordination between law enforcement, fire, and EMS during critical incidents. You may notice an increased presence of emergency vehicles at the Elementary School during this time; please avoid the area to allow the teams to conduct the training effectively.

As part of this exercise, we will be testing our panic button system at least twice. These systems, funded by the April 2025 operational referendum, are designed to alert the school community and emergency responders to immediate danger. Please be aware that these tests will trigger audible alarms inside and outside the building.

Thank you for your ongoing support as we work with our local first responders to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

Sincerely,

Jim Schmitt
District Administrator

08/15/2026

Community is what it’s all about!