VIDEO: As smoke stretched across Louisville on Tuesday night, Kentucky Air National Guard firefighter Kyle Miller knew he was responding to a fire that would go down in history. Days later, the smell of oil still lingers on Miller’s gear.
“I’ve never experienced anything with this much fuel, this giant of an aircraft. It was definitely, probably, a once-in-a-career thing,” said Miller, 24 years into his career. He was among the first firefighters to arrive at the sprawling crash site of UPS Flight 2976.
Miller didn’t see the full extent of the crash until after the fire was extinguished. “When we got there that night, we didn’t know that the aircraft had kept going for a quarter to a half mile,” Miller said. “We just got stopped by a wall of smoke and fire.”
Behind the wheel of a pump truck, Miller maintained a steady supply of foam to prevent thousands of gallons of jet fuel from reigniting. Miller said a sense of duty kept him moving forward through the dangerous conditions. “Duty to do what I’m supposed to do,” Miller said.
