Anti-mosquito operations delayed in wake of Miller's death

While much of the community mourns the unexpected death Sunday of 32-year-old Josh Miller, a member of Havre's City Council, the Hill County Mosquito Control District is warning that the loss of Miller, who had been an integral part of the district since 2016, will set its operations in the community back significantly.

Mosquito Control District Supervisor Terry Turner said Miller's loss is devastating for the district on a number of levels, but on a personal one, it's been difficult to accept a man so young, one who seemed like he was doing great just a few days prior, die.

"He went above and beyond the call of duty for us," Turner said, "... You can't replace that kind of talent."

He said that Miller wasn't just a dedicated worker for the district but incredibly talented, bringing a diverse set of relevant skills to the district.

Turner said part of the reason Miller joined the district was because he'd caught a bad case of West Nile Virus early in his life, a case which significantly damaged his immune system and he didn't want anyone else going through that.

The creation of the district's drone pilot program is likely Miller's greatest contribution to the district, having put in hundreds of hours of training with the Department of Homeland Security to get his license and become the district's drone pilot, Turner said.

He added the program has been in development for years, but faced delays, particularly last year after Homeland Security grounded a lot of drone traffic throughout the country, but this year the program was slated to really take off.

Turner said integrating a drone into the district's operations has made them far more efficient, allowing them to survey an area that would take a team of four nearly a full day's work in less than 30 minutes with just one drone.

"It's a phenomenal saving of labor," he said.

He said it also made their work safer, as they no longer had to physically venture into the problem areas, which were typically very swampy, which is a very easy environment to sustain an injury in, even when making active efforts to be careful.

He said Miller was so good with the drone that he was in the running for awards on the national level and had written safety manuals for other pilots.

Turner said Miller was actually planning to train a back-up pilot in case anything ever happened to him, but unfortunately he will never have that chance.

"I guess something happened to him much sooner than we thought," he said.

He said Miller, as a former stormspotter for National Weather Service and weather reporter for KRTV, was incredibly knowledgeable about weather patterns, which also helped them in planning out their operations.

Miller's death has set the district back a tremendous amount, Turner said, and they will need time to reorganize before they can start their normal efforts to combat mosquitos and the potential disease they carry, likely until the beginning of June.

He said this looks slated to be a particularly bad summer as the insects' eggs seem to be hatching early because of all the warm weather, and with the district's operations delayed, they may have some rough opening summer weeks.

Turner said he asks for the community's understanding as they try to recover from this loss and get back on their feet as quickly as they can.