PORTAGE, Wis. (AP) -- A Portage man who was found unconscious in a house fire earlier this week has died.
Firefighters had rescued 49-year-old Joel Pribbenow from a house fire on Monday. He was unconscious, and was airlifted to a Milwaukee hospital to be treated for high levels of carbon monoxide.
A Portage Daily Register report says he died two days later.
Portage Fire Chief Clayton Simonson says Pribbenow is the first person to die in a Portage fire in at least eight years. He says the death weighs on him.
However, he also says the firefighters who responded did an excellent job. He says they fought through thick blinding smoke to get to Pribbenow.
