4th of July celebrations at BYU football stadium ends in mayhem as multiple people injured: REPORTS

A Fourth of July celebration at the BYU football stadium in Provo, Utah, has reportedly ended in disaster. Per local reports, the school was lighting off fireworks at LaVell Edwards Stadium to celebrate the holiday when multiple people got hurt.

According to a Provo Police Department spokesperson, several people were injured Thursday during the opening ceremony of the Stadium of Fire event, with one person being seriously injured, after fireworks were apparently shot into the crowd. Per reports, the incident happened as the national anthem was going on.

Several fans recorded videos of the scary mishap, as one video saw a firework barely miss a cheerleader.

According to ABC News, a small fire was started in the stands due to the fireworks. Six people were rushed to the hospital.

"Safety is of the upmost importance to us. All pyrotechnics are thoroughly checked before the show, and were rechecked after the incident. Our thoughts are with those who are impacted by the incident and we are following up with them to make sure they are okay," Emory Cook, a spokesperson for the Freedom Festival told ABC.

KSL reported that one person was struck in the face by the firework and is seriously injured.

The show was delayed around 10-15 minutes while medical personnel responded to the scene. However, the rest of the event, which was headlined by a Jonas Brothers concert, did take place.

BYU football confident going into 2024

As for the football team, the BYU Cougars are coming off a rather disappointing 5-7 season in 2023.

BYU started the year going 3-0 and at one point was 5-2 but ended the year losing five straight games to miss out on bowl games.

Heading into 2024, coach Kalani Sitake has confidence his team can learn from 2023 and have success this year.

“I saw some really good things and I saw some really bad things (last year),” Sitake said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Herald in June. “I’d like to see the really good things happen more often. If we can play consistently at a high level, we’ve shown that we can hang with a lot of people, even with teams that have gone to the playoffs.

“The goal for us would be to get there to be consistent. The first step is that the players have really taken the initiative to get themselves there. I’ve seen it already from January, in spring ball, and to now that they’ve done that part right. There’s still some work to be made, sure, but they’re on path of doing it the right way.”

BYU will have notable games against Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Utah, Kansas and SMU in 2024.