FILLMORE, Utah — Smoke, evacuations and community recovery are shaping the start of football season across central Utah.
As high school football teams across Utah prepare for the upcoming season, many athletes in central Utah are balancing preseason practices with the realities of an active wildfire season.
The Widemouth 2 Fire has burned nearly 80,000 acres in Millard County, sending thick smoke across the region and forcing evacuation orders for parts of Fillmore, Meadow and Kanosh. The fire has also affected outdoor practices and daily life for local communities.
For Millard High School senior Christian Bricena, the challenges have made his final football season even more meaningful.
"It's definitely different with everything going on," Bricena said. "Practice has been a little harder, but it's fun to be out there with your guys. Me being a senior, this is my last ride, so I'm just grateful that God's given us the chance to even play right now."
Despite the smoke and uncertainty, Bricena said the team is excited about the season and knows football gives the community something to rally around.
"Football is definitely in Millard's roots," he said. "The community comes out every home game. It's really cool to run out and see the whole town of Fillmore in the stands."
Millard head coach Stoney Myers, who has coached Eagles football for three decades, said the sport is serving as a welcome bright spot during a difficult summer.
"It's certainly a light," Myers said. "If you know Fillmore and Millard football, it's certainly been a big tradition over the years."
In neighboring Beaver County, football has taken on an even broader role.
Beaver High School head coach Jonathan Marshall said his players have spent part of the summer helping their community recover from the Cottonwood Fire and the flooding that followed, even replacing some practices with service projects.
"It's been a challenging summer," Marshall said. "But it's also given our kids and our community a chance to do a lot of service and support something that's bigger than themselves."
Marshall believes those experiences have been more valuable than time spent on the practice field.
"I think that's been more valuable for our kids than anything we could do on the football field," he said. "It's going to be a year or more before things get back to normal, but it's been great for our kids to give back to the people who support them every Friday night. It's crazy how adversity brings people together."
Meanwhile, fire officials say difficult conditions continue to fuel the Widemouth 2 Fire.
"This has been a wind-driven fire the last 48 to 72 hours," said Karl Hunt, spokesperson for Great Basin Incident Management Team 2. "The winds have aligned with the topography, which has pushed the growth of this fire exponentially."
Hunt said approximately 420 personnel are assigned to the fire, though resources remain stretched across the western United States.
Even with smoky skies and ongoing wildfire concerns, players say they're eager for kickoff.
"We're going to have fun," one player said. "That's all that matters. We're going to have fun and play some football."
