Home Care In Fillmore, UT

FILLMORE, Utah (ABC4) – On their way to California, a West Valley City family was traveling on Interstate 15 when they were suddenly encapsulated in the Millard County sandstorm that resulted in a series of crashes and multiple fatalities.

“We were just driving, acting excited, we were going on vacation, and then all of a sudden, we saw the sandstorm,” Krystal Richardson tells ABC4.

As the cloud of dust swept across the freeway, Richardson said they couldn’t see anything.

“You could not see a foot in front of you,” she explains.

In a video from the Richardson family, you can hear someone say “that car just disappeared! Oh my gosh, slow down.”

Richardson is then heard saying to her daughter, who was driving, “Slow down, we’re not going to be able to see, slow way down.”

After slowing down, her daughter pulled over on the side of the road. Moments later, she said their vehicle was hit from behind.

“They did get out, but their car was mangled, like it was pretty bad,” Richardson says of the driver’s vehicle who hit them. “Their airbags were out, their car was bad.”

Utah Highway Patrol officials say 22 vehicles were involved in the string of crashes Sunday afternoon.

“Lots of cars, gone, mangled. Like you couldn’t tell they were vehicles. It was horrible. Like, cars in diesels, a vehicle right next to us like literally inside a diesel,” Richardson reflected.

And she recounts the scene that’s still fresh in her mind.

“We were right next to all these cars that they couldn’t possibly have made it through, and I just sat there and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, like how are we alive?’ I don’t even know how it happened” she says. “Like, we were right next to a horrible, horrific scene and it’s so heartbreaking.”

Troopers said the series of crashes claimed the lives of eight people. Richardson and her family tells ABC4 News they’re grateful to be alive, but is heartbroken for those who lost their lives.

“I’m thankful we’re alive, but literally I feel, I’m just shaking because of the thought of the families that aren’t so lucky,” she says.

Following the crash, Richardson and her family were put up in a hotel by the city of Fillmore. As of Monday afternoon, the family was still trying to get a rental car and figure out what’s next.

“This town has been so amazing,” she expresses.

Although their plans have dramatically changed, Richardson said it’s incomparable to those who lost their lives.

“I feel so bad for everyone and their families,” she says. “It’s just a sad, sad day.”

For the first responders on-scene, Richardson said she is grateful for their efforts and support.

“All the other people who came on the scene are amazing. They’ve helped so much…I do have to give a shout-out to every EMT and law enforcement.”

The Halfway Hill Fire is the largest wildfire the state has seen this season, and officials are expecting further growth.

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The Halfway Hill Fire has burned over 6,640 acres southeast of Fillmore since its ignition Friday afternoon, and fire officials expect the blaze will grow.

The Millard County wildfire was first measured at 30+ acres at 3 p.m. on Friday, but grew to become the state’s largest wildfire so far this season in less than 24 hours. Erratic wind gusts have limited the use of air resources to fight the blaze, and combined with worsening fire conditions, the fire is 0% contained, according to Utah Fire Info.

The fire caused evacuations on Friday for the Virginia Hills subdivision southeast of Fillmore, which remain in place. Kayli Yardley, a fire prevention specialist with the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said only 3-4 residents live in the area full time, and that the subdivision is mostly summer homes.

“When we when we see those types of conditions, that’s when we need to be even more cautious and take extra precaution, because it just takes that little bit of a spark to take off and make this a catastrophic wildfire,” Yardley said. “It’s not done. It’s putting on a show, I’m confident that it’s going to increase in size again. We’ll have another few hundred, maybe another thousand or so acres added on to this by the time we’re all said and done.”

About 35 miles away from the Halfway Hill Fire, another wildfire ignited on Friday afternoon east of Oak City. The Dry Creek Fire has burned about 900 acres and also caused an evacuation of Oak City Canyon, which remains in place.

“I don’t have a number on how many actual campers were up in that area, I just know that they were able to go in and get everybody out,” Yardley said. “Between both of these fires, there were several rangeland folks that had cows, their permits up here on the mountain, and they were able to go in and and get their cows moved or get their animals taken care of as well.”

Both fires were sparked by human causes, but the exact sources of the fires are still under investigation. Yardley said she doesn’t foresee the fires combining, since the Dry Creek Fire would have to “really pick up some ground” to connect with the Halfway Hill Fire.

However, the state will likely see smoke impacts from the two blazes. Yardley wasn’t sure if the smoke would move up to the Wasatch Front, but said it’s possible.

“It’s super hot, super dry — that’s the drought conditions that are really impacting a lot of this,” Yardley said. “It’s super important for folks to just remember that little bit of rain that we that we’ve received, it’s a drop in the bucket to what we actually need to be able to come out of this. The fuel moistures are just too dry, and again, it’s just it’s just a tinderbox up here.”

Utah developer Wayne Aston alleges the Millard County Chronicle Progress defamed him in articles about his attempts to develop a manufacturing factory in Fillmore.

A Utah land developer and entrepreneur is suing a rural Utah newspaper for defamation, alleging it published libel in articles that raised questions about his business investments and his plans to build a $280 million manufacturing plant in Fillmore.

Wayne Aston, who founded American Spec Industries, sued the Millard County Chronicle Progress in December, saying it published five defamatory and inaccurate articles about his attempts to develop a factory on 151 acres of land. Aston alleges in the lawsuit that the negative press has harmed his business by causing readers to “distrust, hate and despise” him and his company, and led to several lenders rejecting his loan applications. He’s seeking at least $10 million in damages.

Jeff Hunt, an attorney for the Chronicle Progress, said the newspaper “stands by its reporting and intends to vigorously defend against Mr. Aston’s lawsuit.” He noted that the news organization, which currently staffs four people, has been covering Millard County for 130 years.

“Newspapers like the Chronicle Progress perform a role that is vital in our democracy — informing residents about what is happening in their local communities,” Hunt said. “Yet these newspapers are disappearing across the country.”

Aston sued both the Chronicle Progress and Matt Ward, who wrote the articles about Aston’s development plans. He argues the newspaper brought up negative accusations about his previous business dealings in an effort to dissuade Fillmore city officials from continuing the project.

Aston’s attorney didn’t respond to an email seeking comment this week. The developer in March 2022 announced he planned to build a factory to produce modular housing units. But by last August, the Chronicle Progress reported Aston’s plans had changed significantly. Ward reported then that the development agreement no longer proposed building modular housing, but a facility which would turn construction waste into other building products.

Ward, an editor and reporter at the paper since 2019, wrote in an article that city officials had soured on Aston’s plans, citing comments made during a city council meeting. But Aston argued in his lawsuit that the city has never “completely rejected” his project, and that he continues to work with them to revise details in the development agreement.

A new type of school has popped up in Utah over the past few years: microschools.

During the 2024 legislative session, Sen. Lincoln Fillmore sponsored a microschools bill that dealt with, what he called, groups of “essentially homeschoolers” – meaning the students are not enrolled in either a private or public school. He said they might gather in a co-op and could pay someone to teach or tutor the students.

Instead of focusing on education policy, Fillmore told the Senate Education Committee his bill was more about “land use,” in that it deals with zoning issues for microschools. Fillmore said the bill was needed because cities didn’t know how to treat microschools and whether they should be considered daycare centers or private schools.

“It's kind of its own little hybrid thing,” he said.

Among other things, Fillmore’s bill defines microschools in state code. It differentiates between a “home-based microschool,” which has up to 16 students who meet in someone’s home, and a “micro-education entity,” which can have up to 100 students that don’t meet in a residence. The bill only refers to schools that register as a business and receive compensation. And like charter schools, microschools can be allowed in every zoning district within a county.

Lawmakers who opposed the bill expressed concerns about disturbing residential neighborhoods and said the regulations on microschools were too loose.

What isn’t defined in the bill is what the day-to-day operations of a microschool look like. While Fillmore provided the example of a homeschool co-op where students occasionally meet together for certain lessons or activities, there are microschools in Utah that meet daily and are run more like a tiny private school. They also do not have to be run by a certified teacher.

Tulane University economics professor Douglas Harris thinks the COVID-19 pandemic broadened the definition of microschools.

“The ‘microschooling’ term definitely means different things to different people,” he said. “And it’s still evolving.”

The term now often refers to a “loose conglomeration” of homeschooling, virtual schooling and private schooling. There are a lot of different ways to mix those things into something that is “micro,” which is why he said “it’s really hard to pin down.”

Since it's “kind of an offshoot of homeschooling,” he said there’s little research or information about how the students perform and other trends in microschooling.

In an email, Fillmore told KUER that he doesn’t have any data on how many microschools currently exist in Utah. The Utah State Board of Education does not report how many students are homeschooled or how many microschools there are. Even so, more microschools could open once the state’s newest and largest voucher program kicks in.

After a recent boost from lawmakers, the Utah Fits All Scholarship now has $82.5 million to work with. That’s enough to give 10,312 students $8,000 scholarships. Homeschool students can use the voucher money for certain expenses. They can also be used for microschool tuition, as long as that school is set up as an official business.

However, not all microschools across the U.S. are being started independently. Some are run through for-profit companies.

This includes Prenda, an Arizona-based company that started in 2018. People can apply to run microschools and Prenda provides curriculum, training and guidance. Instead of “teachers,” Prenda calls the people leading the schools “guides.” There are no educational requirements for guides.

Families paid Prenda $2,199 for their child to attend during the 2023-2024 school year. The school guide can also charge additional fees. On their FAQ page, Prenda gives an example guide fee of $3,500 per student.

Founder and CEO Kelly Smith said his company has done some “piloting” in Utah. But they’re now looking to expand after lawmakers passed the Utah Fits All Scholarship.

“We tend to focus in areas where there's state dollars available for education so people can do these innovative models without coming out of pocket.”

Utah’s voucher program is also referred to as an education savings account and Smith said Prenda has been focusing on states with such programs.

In 2022, Arizona became the first state to make every student eligible for school voucher money. Prenda has almost 200 microschools in the state, Smith said. For Utah, he said, it’s too early to say how many could open in the fall.

Have you ever given much thought to Millard Fillmore? Probably not. Neither had I.

The 13^th president of the United States, 1850-1853. Whig Party. Raised on a farm in rural New York. Family anything but wealthy. Despite that, went to law school and practiced in Buffalo. Elected to U. S. House of Representatives, became vice president and finally, president.

The subject came up on one of our snowbird trips to Arizona. We stopped for gas and a bite to eat in a small town in Utah, along I-15, about midway between Salt Lake City and St. George.

As is my tendency (much to the annoyance of my darling wife), I inquired of the waitress about the town’s history. She wasn’t sure, but returned a short time later (having asked other employees) near bursting with newfound knowledge. The town and county, she proclaimed, were named after Millard Fillmore: Fillmore, the town, and Millard, the county.

But why? I asked. No clue. But she did know the town was the first capital of Utah.

According to the official Fillmore, Utah municipal website, “The community was named by an act of the Utah Territorial Legislature signed by Brigham Young in 1851, honoring President Millard Fillmore.” It was a “thank you” to Fillmore for signing the documents creating Utah Territory.

“The original Statehouse building stands today as the oldest existing governmental building in the state and is maintained by the state of Utah as a historic site and museum,” according to city officials.

A fellow by the name of Ladd R. Cropper offers up more on Fillmore’s history. He chose the town as the subject of his 1954 master’s thesis at BYU.

“Fillmore was chosen as the first state capital because it was centrally located in the Beehive State. The town of about 100 had erected homes and a church ... within (an adobe) fort. The statehouse was completed ... in 1855.”

It was a wild place in its early days – so wild, wrote Cropper, “many of the pioneers began to contend one with another. ... Their sinful ways were so serious that president Brigham Young came down from Salt Lake City in 1856 (telling) them unless they put away their sins there would be a separation and the righteous would be separated from the ungodly.”

A little research reveals the town is surrounded by extinct volcanoes, lava formations and “excellent fossils.” It has a history of agriculture and mining. At one time, there was both a flour mill and a cheese factory.

Fillmore was the birthplace of some of the state’s earliest newspapers: the Millard County Blade and the Deseret News (before it moved to Salt Lake City).

Speaking of reading material, the “Garden of Eat’n” (yes, that was the name of our delightful dining spot in Fillmore) offered some tableside essays, including one called “857 Habits of Highly Irritating People.” I won’t share my wife’s comments, but suffice it to say, they were aimed at me.

In any event, I recommend both the reading material and the chicken-fried steak (gravy on the side, please).

Where was I? I lost my train of thought. Oh, yes – interesting town names.

It turns out Fillmore is just one of dozens of Utah towns with fascinating back-stories.

The state’s mining history is reflected in names like Copperton and Coalville. Others reflect Mormon principles and values: Providence and Bountiful, for example. The town of Veyo derives its name from Virtue, Enterprise, Youth and Order.

One of the most unusual stories concerns the town of Lynndyl, in good old Millard County. According to a great article by Dale Van Atta, published in the Deseret News back in 1977, the town’s name originated with an old shoe.

“Railroad legend says a lady telegrapher was once asked by a Salt Lake associate where she was. Since the town hadn’t been named, she looked at her shoes, which she had taken off her tired feet, and saw the maker’s imprint, Lynn, Mass. ‘At Lynn’ was her reply and it stuck.”

It’s amazing what you can discover with a simple question. My wife, however, prefers I just sit quietly in the corner booth and eat my chicken-fried steak.

Jim Harmon is a longtime Missoula news broadcaster, now retired, who writes a weekly history column for Missoula Current. You can contact Jim at [email protected].