Wisconsin firefighter covered in ice after battling fire

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A photograph posted to social media this week demonstrated the lengths to which Cameron, Wis., firefighters go to help out in an emergency, even in bitterly cold temperatures.

Bimbo Gifford, a member of the Cameron Fire Department, posted a photo of Chief Mitch Hansen covered in ice after battling a fire in the northwestern Wisconsin town Wednesday.

Temperatures reached below freezing at the time of the fire, with a minus 40 windchill.

"We had a house fire south of Cameron today. Our chief Mitch Hansen thought it was a splash park," Gifford wrote in his Facebook post.

The fire destroyed the house, but the family who lived there was unharmed. Gifford shared a fundraising site for the family, who lost their possessions.

A polar vortex has brought record-breaking low temperatures to much of the Midwest this week.