Latest Details From the Miller Peak Fire Information Officer

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - I spoke with Amanda Frickel, Public Information Officer with the Lolo National Forest for the Miller Peak Fire about the details as of 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

“We stand at about 1970 acres,” began Frickel. “We have a total personnel of 166. We have six engines three helicopters and four hand crews. Yesterday, we made a lot of progress with defining lines and districts and zoning out our crews. We have four different divisions as of yesterday, where they were working back and forth on lines and defining the perimeter of the fire and the potential of fire growth and where that could be, trying to head it off.”

The Fire Stands at Just Under 2,000 Acres in Size as of Wednesday

Frickel said the current Incident Management Team and the fire crews have many years of firefighting experience.

“They have many, many years of fire experience with operations plans, planning sections, air operations, and comms (communications) combined,” she said. All in all, I think we have an astounding amount of years in knowledge and fire background here.”

Frickel said keeping people and property safe are the priorities for any firefighting crew.

There is a New Incident Management Team in Place to Fight the Fire

“Life safety is the number one thing, including homes, the corridors of the highways, communication areas, and things like that are very much taken into consideration and are a high priority for this team,” she said. “We have restrictions, we have evacuation warnings, and we do have road closures, and those are in place to protect the public. We put those in place so that the public is protected and their homes are protected.”

Frickel did ask for the patience of residents in the area of the fire as crews who are new to the area acclimate themselves to the roads and conditions.

READ MORE: Montana Governor Addresses Miller Peak and Horse Gulch Fires

Crews are Asking for Your Patience as They Learn to Navigate the Area

“We have a lot of traffic in and out of here with new crews and emergency vehicles and things like that,” she said. “If the community would cooperate and understand that we have a lot of that coming and going, and please show a little patience with us. Some of us get lost; some of us take a wrong turn here or there, but, you know we're going to have a higher influx of traffic in the area.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.