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ST. GEORGE — The Halfway Hill Fire is now 10% contained and has burned 11,637 acres. Monsoonal moisture and less gusty wind conditions Wednesday aided firefighting efforts, according to a news release from the Great Basin Type 2 Incident Management Team.

Fire managers will update the public Friday at 7 p.m. during a community meeting at the City of Fillmore’s North Park Pavilion, 460 North Main. Members of the Incident Management Team, community leaders and agency representatives will provide an overview of fire suppression activities and answer questions, the news release said.

Firefighting efforts have increased containment estimates to 10%, and fire managers cited a break in the weather and an uptick in crews, equipment and air support as key contributors.

Also on Wednesday, helicopters delivered 62 firefighters to hard-to-access locations on the fire, slung 13,500 pounds of cargo and dropped thousands of gallons of water on active fire areas.

The Millard County Sheriff’s Office and fire managers also lifted the Virginia Hills subdivision evacuation last evening. Residents had been displaced since the fire started on July 8, the news release said.

Prolonged drought conditions remain a concern for fire managers, though they were “optimistic” about progress made securing the fire perimeter and the approximately one-quarter inch of rain parts of the fire received.

Still, fire behavior specialists cautioned the moisture would not begin to lessen the burn potential for a forest that has experienced prolonged drought. More rain showers and increased humidity have been forecasted for Thursday-Friday. The possibility of intense thunderstorms has firefighters on the lookout for slippery, muddy road conditions and lightning, the news release said.

The fire management team also reminds the public of the following:

Please be aware of increased traffic in and around the fire area, particularly during early morning and late evening hours. Safety of the public and firefighters is the first priority on this and all wildland fires. Residents returning to their homes will continue to see firefighters and equipment working in the vicinity, including patrolling the sections of fireline now contained.

The Fishlake National Forest has a closure order in place in the vicinity of the Halfway Hill Fire. Click here to access the closure order, including a full description of the trails roads, and areas closed, along with maps.

(KUTV) — Dr. Ben Johnson had only been on the job as director of Treeside Charter School in Orem for a few months when he got difficult news.

Johnson received a letter from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), an independent, not-for-profit corporation who administers programs for the Federal Communication Commission.

In the letter, the agency told Johnson that he would have to pay back more than $43,000 the school had received from the FCC as part of a grant obtained from the agency. (see document below)

USAC said there were problems created by the relationships of sitting Utah State Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (Dist. 10-R). The USAC report prepared on behalf of the FCC says, “after a thorough investigation,” Utah company H-Wire Technology Solutions had “engaged in an improper relationship with Charter Solutions president Lincoln Fillmore.”

Fillmore owns both Charter Solutions, a private charter school management company, and was an original investor in H-Wire.

H-Wire provides computer and internet services to schools. USAC says H-Wire had an unfair advantage over other bidders when Treeside and 4 other schools hired the company to administer computer and internet upgrades. USAC suggests Fillmore guided his Charter Solutions clients to hire H-Wire.

Fillmore says the findings of the report are flawed. He told 2News:

The government agency, USAC is really making stuff up in an arbitrary and capricious manner, (and) that’s’ really harming Utah’s public schools.

He says he and his companies followed all of the government’s rules. Fillmore says he told everyone, including the federal government and Treeside, about a potential conflict of interest (see the document below). He says he has never tried to convince anyone at Treeside, or elsewhere, to hire H-Wire.

Dena Lundgreen was one of the founders of Treeside. She left in March but says she hired Charter Solutions to manage the school.

Lundgreen says she had never heard of H-Wire until Fillmore mentioned the company to her. Lundgreen says she decided to choose H-Wire over 4 other companies, most of whom had bid less than H-Wire.

“I had already sort of felt secure in H-Wire because Charter Solutions had introduced me,” says Lundgreen.

Fillmore says although he may have mentioned H-Wire to Lundgreen, he never pushed her to hire the company. Fillmore says he has gone to great lengths to make sure H-Wire and Charter Solutions are kept separate.

"There is complete separation between the companies,” says Fillmore.

However, when 2News visited the H-Wire offices in Draper, H-Wire and Charter Solutions are both located in the same office suite, separated only by a set of stairs. This was something Reporter Chris Jones pointed out to the senator in a sit-down interview.

Chris Jones: “But come on, if you needed to talk to someone at H-wire just pop down the stairs and you guys can consult and have a conversation. That’s the problem that USAC found and what also looked peculiar to us.”

Lincoln Fillmore: “Ok, let me take a breath and answer it this way. USAC has rules and guidance, right? And we were very careful to follow every rule and guidance they had."

But USAC clearly disagrees with Fillmore’s assessment and is now ordering Treeside, not Fillmore or his companies, to repay the FCC money.

Also, Beyond the Books has confirmed that 4 other schools managed by Charter Solutions may have to pay back money as well. The schools may have to return a total of $100,000 because of the so-called “improper relationship” between Fillmore, Charter Solutions and H-Wire. (see bid evaluation matrix below)

It is important to note, Fillmore is not just any senator. He has incredible power in the legislature when it comes to education and charter schools.

Fillmore sits on the Senate Education Committee and the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Fillmore often uses his credentials to market himself to potential clients.

Beyond the Books obtained an email in which Fillmore brags about his powerful duties in state government. He said in that email:

I am an elected state senator in Utah, I have influence in state education policy that has an impact on your schools.

Since the situation with the FCC came to light, Dr. Johnson has fired Charter Solutions.

As for Lundgreen, she says she may have been naïve about starting a charter school and may have leaned too heavily on Charter Solutions. She says she thinks Fillmore took advantage of that.

“We trust, we trust. Once again, I think it’s very easy, not being a businesswoman, at that time to just trust,” says Lundgreen.

Follow 2News Reporter Chris Jones on Facebook and Twitter.

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FILLMORE, Utah — In addition to two wildfires that have forced evacuations in Millard County Friday afternoon, a tire shredding plant has also caught fire.

First reported by the Millard County Chronicle Progress, a fire broke out at the plant located in Fillmore.

The Millard County Sheriff's Office later confirmed the information and asked the public to stay away from the Fillmore Industrial Park.

The sheriff also warned the public to avoid the areas of Sand Rock Ridge and Pine Creek due to the Halfway Hill Fire, as well as the Oak Creek Canyon and Dry Creek areas near Oak City due to the Dry Creek Fire. Evacuations are underway for areas threatened by both of these wildfires.

"We appreciate your willingness to avoid unnecessary travel around these events to allow heavy fire resources to move about," the announcement read.

Utah Wildfire Info said the tire plant fire was not connected to either of the wildfires.

Tire fire also in Millard County across the I-15 in #Fillmore at the same time the #HalfwayHillFire is burning. @KUTV2News @abc4utah @KSL5TV @fox13 @UtahWildfire @brian_schnee @nollaigoconnor @SLCScanner pic.twitter.com/dofc8TlTjZ

— Matt Champion (@SoulHarvester87) July 9, 2022

Rural patients find success with the help of telehealth lactation services through Intermountain Health

Fillmore, UT (PRUnderground) July 10th, 2023

Chelsea Breur knew she wanted to breastfeed her third child.

“I had successfully breastfed my first two kids and knew all the benefits of breastfeeding. But after Henry was born at Intermountain Fillmore Community Hospital, I couldn’t get him to latch on properly. It was surprising that I couldn’t get breastfeeding to work, since I’d done it before,” said Breur, who lives in Meadow, Utah.

Breur, who works as a social media director specializing in sports partnerships and is a runner herself, was determined to make breastfeeding work. And in the end, it took a team of people to help Chelsea and Henry succeed.

Intermountain Fillmore Community Hospital is an 18-bed critical access hospital in central Utah. The hospital has 20 nurses on staff and like most rural hospitals, their nurses are cross-trained to fill a variety of roles, everything from the emergency room to labor and delivery, to caring for sick or injured patients admitted to the hospital.

When Shelby Bullock, BSN became the women and newborn nurse manager at Fillmore Community Hospital about two and a half years ago, she wanted to help more new moms succeed at breastfeeding while they were in the hospital after childbirth. She and other nurses were working on a goal to help the hospital earn a five-star breastfeeding rating from the Utah Department of Health’s Stepping Up for Utah Babies program.

“Though many moms in the hospital initially started breastfeeding in the hospital, they didn’t always continue breastfeeding during their stay. Like some other rural hospitals, we had nurses trained to help with breastfeeding, but we didn’t have a certified lactation consultant on staff,” said Bullock.

Bullock found a creative way to help the hospital’s nurses learn more about best breastfeeding practices, so they could teach their patients. She set up provider-to-provider telehealth consultations, so a certified lactation consultant at Intermountain Orem Community Hospital could consult remotely with a Fillmore Hospital nurse who worked in labor and delivery, and the patient who wanted to breastfeed.

“Before we were using telehealth lactation consultations, our breastfeeding rate for moms who breastfeed in the hospital was just 26 percent. About two years and many telehealth consultations later, the breastfeeding rate is now 88 percent. When you serve a small number of patients, every patient makes a big difference in our success rate,” said Bullock.

“Through telehealth our nurses have remote access to lactation consultants that provide them with additional training and tips, so they can help news moms solve common breastfeeding challenges – like how to hold and position the baby – and the more unique breastfeeding challenges,” said Bullock.

“The lactation consultant offers suggestions through telehealth and the nurse at the bedside provides the hands-on help and further encouragement needed, to teach women the skills they need to breastfeed successfully, added Bullock.

“Thanks to support from a nurse at Fillmore Hospital and a telehealth visit from a lactation consultant at Orem Community Hospital, I learned my baby was tongue tied, and needed a simple surgical procedure to have it clipped, so he’d be able to breastfeed well,” said Breur.

According to La Leche League, a tongue-tie is an unusually short, thick, or tight band of tissue that tethers the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth, inhibiting a full range of motion. And it may make breastfeeding more difficult.

Breur felt the staff at Fillmore Hospital really cared and knew her personally. After leaving the hospital, she needed additional support from a community-based lactation consultant, and was able to have an oral surgeon fix her son’s tongue-tie when he was about three months old.

The ten steps of the Stepping Up for Utah Babies program are evidence-based maternity care practices that demonstrate optimal support of breastfeeding, as well as improved care experiences and outcomes for non-breastfeeding moms and families.

They include hospital practices such as: encouraging moms to hold their new baby skin-to-skin right after delivery; allowing moms and babies to remain together 24 hours a day in the hospital; training staff to support all new moms’ feeding choices; encouraging breastfeeding on demand; reducing formula supplementation unless medically indicated; and not using pacifiers for breastfeeding infants.

All Intermountain Hospitals in Utah have earned or are working toward the five-star breastfeeding friendly rating.

The state health program website cites research that shows breast milk is the best food for infants and that breastfeeding is associated with decreased risk for infant morbidity and mortality. It’s also been shown that breastfeeding moms have lower incidences of breast and ovarian cancer, Type 2 diabetes and postpartum depression.

The state program is patterned after the international Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative started by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund in the 1990s.

Intermountain Health offers a variety of virtual and in-person resources for moms who choose to breastfeed Intermountainhealth.org has a virtual breastfeeding class available for expectant parents. It’s a one session, two-hour class and offered often.

Or go to the Intermountain Parents Facebook page for videos that answer breastfeeding questions and provide breastfeeding tips. For a free complete guide to breastfeeding booklet and a list of local outpatient lactation consultant services, contact a nearby Intermountain hospital or visit intermountainhealth.org.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in seven states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 3,900 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.

THURSDAY 11/11/2021 6:22 a.m.

FILLMORE, Utah (ABC4) – State investigators are still working to determine what happened in a late Tuesday night incident that left a woman dead in central Utah.

Utah Highway Patrol says they were first notified of a single-vehicle crash near milepost 170 on southbound I-15 at around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. When deputies arrived, they found a car in the median with little damage but stuck in the mud.

A truck driver then stopped and alerted deputies to a body lying on the shoulder of the road south of the location between Fillmore and Holden. There, a woman was found dead. UHP says they have determined the woman is the owner of the vehicle but are unsure of the exact events that took place.

Shortly before UHP confirmed the body had been found, the Millard County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning to the communities along I-15 about a man possibly walking or trying to hitchhike. Early Wednesday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Office announced they were no longer searching for the man but did not release any additional information.

Investigators say they originally believed a man had left the scene of the crash but they have not been able to confirm that information. It is also unclear if this is the same man the Millard County Sheriff’s Office warned about.

The State Bureau of Investigation is asking anyone who had been traveling along I-15 in Millard County that may have information about the case to come forward. You can reach SBI at 801-965-4747. If you call after hours, you are asked to leave a message.

WEDNESDAY 11/10/2021 9:34 a.m.

FILLMORE, Utah (ABC4) – New details have been released about the body found along I-15 in Millard County early Wednesday morning.

Utah Highway Patrol says they were first notified of a single-vehicle crash near milepost 170 on southbound I-15. When deputies arrived, they found a car in the median with little damage but stuck in the mud.

A truck driver then stopped and alerted deputies to a body lying on the shoulder of the road south of the location between Fillmore and Holden. There, a woman was found dead.

The State Bureau of Investigation is processing the scene and interviewing any potential witnesses. UHP says they have determined the woman is the owner of the vehicle but are unsure of the exact events that took place.

Shortly before UHP confirmed the body had been found, the Millard County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning to the communities along I-15 about a man possibly walking or trying to hitchhike. Anyone who spots this man is asked to call 911 immediately.

Investigators have not yet said if these incidents are connected.

WEDNESDAY 11/10/2021 6:48 a.m.

FILLMORE, Utah (ABC4) – A body has been found along I-15 in central Utah and authorities are now investigating.

Utah Highway Patrol has confirmed they are on the scene between Holden and Fillmore in Millard County working to determine what happened.

One lane of I-15 has been closed as they investigate the incident. The lane closure is expected to last for several hours.

This comes just hours after the Millard County Sheriff’s Office warned communities along I-15 of a man who may be walking or trying to hitchhike. Authorities are asking the public to avoid this man if they see him and to call 911.

The Sheriff’s Office tells ABC4 they do not believe these two incidents are connected but they are working with UHP in the death investigation.