Rockville Firefighter Shaken by Fatalities in Az. Fire

A volunteer Rockville, Md. firefighter told News4 she is still shaken to the core thinking of the 19 lives lost fighting a fire in Arizona Sunday.

The firefighters were identified Monday afternoon. Many of them were under 30 years of age.

"I cried this morning when I thought about the magnitude of the loss," Peggy Miller said.

For 13 years, Miller has worked as a summertime paramedic with the U.S. Forest Service, providing medical support to hotshot teams, much like the one in Arizona.

"It's exciting. I love the people I work with," Miller said. "That's what makes this loss so hard... we're a big family."

The Granite Mountain Hotshots were featured in an Arizona State University video last year. Although Miller is not on a hotshot team, she does go through similar training and knows the dangers that come with the job.

"The windland fire is a very unpredictable animal," Miller said. "Sometimes it just gets away from you. Unfortunately there are tragic results when it does."

"We're going to take this, learn from it, and not let something like this happen again."

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