PHOTOS: Casper Fire-EMS Offers Update, Insight Into Mills Apartment Fire

Casper Fire-EMS has released a video update regarding the structure fire that occurred on Friday evening in Mills, Wyoming.

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Dane Anderson, the Public Information Officer for Casper Fire-EMS, stated that on Friday, they received 25 separate calls for emergency services, with the most notable being the structure fire in Mills.

"I want to make it imperative and very clear that the City of Mills Fire-EMS Department is going to be the lead agency on this [situation], as far as releasing information and providing the details of cause, investigation, and further actions that were taken on scene by the City of Mills firefighters."

Though Mills is leading the investigation, Anderson said that Casper Fire-EMS did assist with the fire.

"Units that responded upon further request for mutual aid was Casper Fire-EMS Engine Six, and the On-Duty Battalion Chief of Fire One," Anderson said. "We also had Chief Officers that responded out there as well. Two investigators with Casper Fire-EMS also responded out there for the duration of the incident."

Anderson said the fire was a very large, dynamic incident.

"It was a three-story wood frame constructed apartment complex that still appeared to be actively under construction last night," he stated. "It had a very large amount of fire coming from all sides and inside the structure, and through the roof of the structure as well. On-scene Casper Fire-EMS units assisted actively with a defensive fire operations , and also facilitating incident command through the incident."

Anderson then detailed the equipment firefighters used for the incident.

"We used the elevated master streams off of our ladder truck, truck one, to apply water from the elevated position," he said. "What the elevated master stream is, is just the very big nozzles that are on top of the ladder bucket that spray a lot of water, very quickly, downward. Also, Casper Fire-EMS engine six and engine one also utilized portable ground monitors which are very large nozzles attached to very large fire hoses, but they are based on the ground and shoot water up in the air, and then down onto it."

Andersons stated that, in incidents like the one that occurred last night, they break up and divide the incident into smaller divisions, headed up by various "bosses." They attempt to gain control of the fire one "section" at a time.

"As far as anything official when it comes to causes, investigations, and everything, the incident is still ongoing," Anderson said. "It's still an active scene, but the fire was brought under control last night and there are going to be crews there, I would estimate, throughout the day today, probably through the night, and possibly into next week, picking up and taking care of the hotspots that are still remining. Investigators are going to be working diligently on-scene to begin the investigations process."

Anderson continued, stating that "There is absolutely no indication or any sort of speculation or any apparent cause right now. Our investigators countywide from all agencies are gonna be working diligently with other agency investigators to try and determine a cause. But as of now, there is no official cause and it will be under investigation for quite some time."

Anderson also stated that the fire being controlled as well as it was, was due to the teamwork of all of the firefighters involved.

"It was a very dynamic firefight," he stated. "It required a lot of ingenuity, a lot of outside-of-the-box thinking, and a lot of really good, old fashioned hard work," he said.

Anderson then reiterated that no firefighters were injured as a result of the fire.

The full video of the Casper Fire-EMS update can be seen below, as can photos from the fire.