After a tragic year fighting fires, flood and tornado, BVFD shares good news
Members of the Bakersfield VFD stands with others in front of the department’s recently donated brush truck, which was painted by students at Southern Missouri Technical Institute in West Plains. Pictured above, from left, are: SMTI Director Josh Cotter, Bakersfield Fire Chief Greg Watts, Tecumseh Assistant Fire Chief JB Duke, BHS student Tate Bonham, BVFD Secretary Zaylor Watts, SMTI instructor Brian Hoyle and SMTI instructor Jason Pekarek.
This photo shows the truck before it was painted red at the vo-tech school.
Bakersfield Volunteer Fire Department says they are thankful for the help of Bakersfield Principal Stephanie Guffey and two vo-tech students at the district who helped paint a brush truck for the department as part of their auto body training at SMTI in West Plains. Pictured, from left, are: Tate Bonham, BHS junior; Nathan Watlington, BHS senior; Stephanie Guffey, BHS principal; Greg Watts, BVFD fire chief; and Kelly Fowler, BVFD firefighter, EMR and safety officer.
Zaylor and Greg Watts, left, recently accepted a $3,700 check from Brian and Jess Stack of Bootleggers BBQ after the couple held a fundraiser in which they sold 272 smoked pork butts, donating the proceeds to Bakersfield, Rover and Alton Volunteer Fire Departments.
After months of battling flames, braving floodwaters and helping in the aftermath of a massive tornado, the Bakersfield Volunteer Fire Department has good news to share - and it comes with a fresh coat of paint and a side of barbecue.
In a year that has tested the fire department in what seems like non-stop response, a trio of recent gifts was welcomed with open arms.
New paint job on a new-to-them brush truck
Fire Chief Greg Watts said that the Bakersfield Fire Department recently obtained a new brush truck through the Missouri Department of Conservation equipment center in Lebanon.
That gift was further sweetened when the auto body classes at the Southern Missouri Technical Institute in West Plains volunteered their time to give the rig a shiny, new red paint job, perfect for its next chapter of its life in fire rescue.
Watts said Bakersfield High School principal Stephanie Guffey was instrumental in making a connection between the vo-tech school, where some Bakersfield High School students attend, and the fire department that led to the painted truck.
SMTI Auto Body Instructor Brian Hoyle said that SMTI is committed to integrating community service into their curriculum, and the auto body department has painted several vehicles for various fire departments, law enforcement agencies and other community organizations who need it.
“About three or four years ago we painted a Hummer for the Douglas and Ozark Counties SERT (Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team), and we’ve done a SWAT vehicle for the West Plains police department,” Hoyle told the Times. He says they get a steady flow of community service-related requests. Hoyle said even on the morning of the interview with the Times the Brandsville Fire Department had sent him an email, asking for help painting a vehicle.
The main bread and butter of the vo-tech shop is customer work, which Hoyle says keeps the students busy, but when a request is made for a community service project, the school tries to fit it in. He said, in those situations, typically the organization purchases all of the supplies for the project, and the students and instructors provide the labor, free of charge.
Hoyle said they were first approached about painting the brush truck for BVFD in March.
“When they first brought it up, we were close to the end of the school year, and we didn’t know if we were going to have time,” he said. “Everybody worked their tails off, and [fellow SMTI auto body instructor] Jason [Pekarek] and I helped too.”
Hoyle said the project trucked along smoothly without any big issues. That is, until West Plains received significant flooding last month.
“I was actually there that Friday evening. I live in West Plains and had come over to check on things. There is a creek next to the school property, and the water came up so I couldn’t leave. Part of that truck was ready to paint, so I fired up the paint booth and got to work.”
In the beginning, Hoyle told Watts that he wasn’t sure if they’d have enough time to paint the whole thing, and asked if he’d rather have the front or back half painted. Watts chose the front, but Hoyle said he was happy to be able to present the fully-painted vehicle back to the BVFD.
“There’s a lot of work that went into it,” he said, explaining that this school year SMTI had 21 first year students (high school juniors who are bused from their schools to the vo-tech school as part of their high school curriculum), and 10 second year students (high school seniors). They all helped with the sanding and masking, spraying and other work that was needed to finish the job.
“The students work on the projects and earn a grade from it. It’s good experience for them,” he said.
Among the high school students who worked on the vehicle were two of Bakersfield’s own, junior Tate Bonham and senior Nathan Watlington.
“We got the truck to them on March 25, and we picked it up April 17. Those students and instructors are amazing. We can’t say thank you enough,” Watts posted to Facbeook about the donation.
He said he was also incredibly thankful for Brian and Jess Stack of Bootleggers BBQ, an Alton-based restaurant. The pair brought food to Bakersfield on multiple days after the March 14 tornado, to feed victims and workers for free. They also held a fundraiser, selling 272 pork butts last month, which raised more than $11,000. They donated $3,700 each to Bakersfield, Alton and Rover VFDs.
“We appreciate them not only cooking and donating food for everyone during the tornado but also donating their time and cooking skills to raise funds to donate. Those guys are an inspiration of selfless giving,” Watts said.