Massive brush fire engulfs structures, vehicles and hundreds of acres of land

Last Friday afternoon (Feb, 28, 2025), Bakersfield Fire Chief Greg Watts raced alongside more than 50 other volunteer firefighters to extinguish a massive blaze that tested even the most seasoned responders. Despite widespread effort from nine different fire departments, the Missouri Department of Conservation, nearly two dozen local residents and a handful of others, the flames stretched their fiery arms outward, consuming all in its path - barns, trailer houses, trucks, tractors and more than 400 acres of land. As the fire pushed on throughout the afternoon, moving closer and closer to downtown Bakersfield, Watts and his fellow firefighters began to wonder if the blaze would consume the tiny town in southeastern Ozark County. 

“People were scared. I’m not going to lie, I was scared,” Watts told the Times Monday while recounting the firefighting effort. “It’s the most scared I’ve ever been for the town of Bakersfield since I’ve been fire chief, and I’ve been doing this a long time.”

It’s true. Watts has been fighting fire for 36 years, joining the department in 1989. He assumed the fire chief’s role at Bakersfield in 1993, and he said in all his tenure, he’s not seen a fire come as close to burning the town as the fire last week. 

“I told Greg that Bakersfield, Missouri, came real close to being another Bakersfield, California,” Tecumseh Assistant Fire Chief JB Duke told the Times, referencing devastating wildfires on the west coast earlier this year. “We stopped it on the last county road before town. You can stand on that road and see Bakersfield. That’s how close it come...”

But thankfully, the firefighters were able to stop the blaze from spreading at County Road 585. 

“It was an act of God and a miracle. It really was,” Watts said. “We didn’t think it was going to stop.” 

But that’s not to say there wasn’t a significant amount of damage. Watts said there were six or more structures that burned, along with multiple vehicles. “It was a real eye-opener to a lot of people in Bakersfield. We lost some structures, and I hate it. But it came to a point where we had to get it stopped or Bakersfield was in real trouble.”

Watts said that a trailer house, former church building, garage, shop buildings and a few other structures were destroyed, but none of the structures lost were being inhabited as homes. Duke said at least 14 structures were saved from the fire, and thankfully no lives were lost. 

Watts said the day started with fire on their minds, as low humidity, high winds and a nitrogen-rich ground from the recent snowfall and lack of rain made for the perfect combination for fire danger. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Ozark County and most of the surrounding area. Watts said area firefighters had already been busy with out-of-control spring burns, as they had fought a 38-acre fire last Wednesday, followed by a 193-acre fire Thursday, both in the O Highway area near County Road 567. It took six hours for firefighters to contain the fire Thursday, he said. Then, on Friday, around 1 p.m. or so, Watts received a text message. 

“It was the weirdest thing. Someone texted me a photo of a notification they’d gotten saying the National Weather Service had detected a wildfire two miles south of Bakersfield. I didn’t even know who had sent the text. I was trying to get to where I could get a look at [the fire]. I could see it from O Highway at Udall, and that’s when I called Punk [Stone] and told him to get the trucks going,” Watts said. “It took 20 minutes from the time when the text came in until someone called and said there was a raging fire going.”

The Bakersfield VFD was toned out at 1:27 p.m. for a fire at County Road 584 and Highway 101 area. Then, four minutes later, another tone went out for BVFD after someone reported that the fire at County Road 567 and O Highway from the day before had rekindled, and there was a full-on blaze there again. 

“I hollered at Punk and said, ‘You take 584, and I’ll go to 567.’ Tecumseh [VFD] was split and sending some [firefighters] to both. But when they got over there, there wasn’t a fire at 567. So, we rounded back up, and everyone came back to 584.”

The fire was fierce. “It was stupid-crazy,” Watts said. Seeing how destructive and fast-spreading the blaze was, Watts called for all the help he could get. 

“I told [the dispatcher] to send everybody and anybody they could, but there’s just not enough of us in Ozark County,” Watts said. 

In addition to Bakersfield VFD, firefighters from Tecumseh, Gamaliel, (Ark.), Caulfield, Dora, West Plains, Howell County Rural, Lick Creek and Cloud 9 Ranch Volunteer Fire Departments responded. The Missouri Department of Conservation sent a dozer operator to cut in fire lines, and the firefighters rounded up another dozer to do the same. The Ozark County Ambulance, Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, Howell County Sheriff’s Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol and Howell-Oregon Electric Cooperative also responded. A command center was set up at the Bakersfield Assembly of God Church on Highway 101.

Watts said that it wasn’t only dedicated firefighters and emergency personnel who helped with the fire, Bakersfield’s own turned out in force to do what they could. 

“The support from the community was just amazing. I was putting people in brush trucks. There were people on tractors trying to help us... some jumped in with rakes or leaf blowers. I can’t say how many, probably 15 or 20  residents came out to help how they could. And then there was an outpouring of support in other ways - people bringing cases of water, Gatorade and food for the firefighters and other volunteers to eat. It was just awesome,” Watts said. 

Some of the residents themselves were able to extinguish fires at their property. Watts and Duke said that Bakersfield resident Kevin Wray and his neighbors were able to extinguish the flames that caught his shop building at his place on fire, saving both his hay bins and his tractors. 

As the fire spread toward the school, which was in session that day, Superintendent Amy Padgett said she was notified of the fast-moving blaze. Concerned for the safety of the students, staff and employees, she tried to get an update on the fire before classes released for the day. 

“We drove down there and talked to firefighters just up the hill from the massive blaze. We came back to school, called Fire Chief Greg Watts and gathered more information about the exact locations and roads impacted by the fire,” she told the Times. At the time, it was apparent that a very large stretch of Highway 101 was fully-involved in the fire. She decided to hold all of the students who would normally be dropped off on that route. 

“I didn’t want to send a bus in that area or have more traffic to be in the way of fighting the fire, so we started calling parents to make arrangements to get kids home in the impacted area. All the parents were so very helpful, and I appreciate that very much. We had a back up plan to keep kids in the FEMA building until we could safely get them home, but all the parents in the impacted area were contacted, and we were able to ensure the kids were home safely, and we didn’t have to use the back up plan,” she said. 

While all hands were on deck fighting fire, there was no one left for traffic control, Duke said. And, around 3:15 p.m., a truck traveling down Highway 101 caught fire from the spreading blaze. A man and his dog were inside. The man made it to the bottom of the hill before he could stop and safely exit the engulfed vehicle. There was heavy smoke in that location, as a former church and a trailer house sat just off the road in that area, burning. While the vehicle went up in flames, a Silverado truck approached it, traveling southbound on Highway 101. The driver of the truck, a 25-year-old Caulfield woman, attempted to go around the burning vehicle by pulling into the opposite lane. What she didn’t know was that a 2020 Chevrolet Traverse was traveling northbound at the same time in the smoke-filled roadway, and the truck hit the SUV head-on. The driver of the Traverse was injured. Ambulance personnel called for a helicopter air ambulance to transport the woman to Cox South Hospital in Springfield to be treated. The helicopter found the closest landing zone to be at the school - which was involved in their own chaos of trying to release classes with the fire looming. 

“In the midst of all of the re-routing, Air Evac had to land in our back parking lot. This is in the back gravel parking lot where elementary parents typically line up to get in the elementary car rider line. Fortunately, many of our elementary students had been picked up by the time we had to close off traffic to that parking lot,” she said. 

Watts had called the U.S. Forest Service to ask them to bring a “ship,” a helicopter that drops water from the air to help extinguish bad wildfires. 

“When I heard the helicopter, I thought that was our water coming in, but it was just Air Evac,” Watts said. The Forest Service helicopter was unavailable at the time, so unfortunately, it was not able to respond to the fire. 

In the end, County Road 585 was as far as the fire reached before it stopped at the roadway. Worn out but thankful, the firefighters heaved a sigh of relief. 

Tones went out throughout the night, as residents saw interior fires burning, but thankfully none of the calls led to the discovery of the fire spreading. 

Watts said he is thankful to all who responded, and he believes the town of Bakersfield is still standing today because of the number of people who helped. 

As always, Watts says the local fire departments are in desperate need of more volunteers to be trained to help during situations like last week’s fire. He said that equipment is also a battle they fight constantly. “I don’t know how many brush trucks we had go down. They get abused when we’re out there fighting these fires. We were already down a truck, and it hurt us,” Watts said. 

Duke agreed. “Lots of these volunteer departments are broke. Their equipment is junk. It’s all outdated, and there’s no money for it. Brush trucks are $160,000 or $170,000 fully -equipped and [fire] engines are $750,0000. A lot of departments can’t even afford to put a tire on an engine, much less buy new tires or fuel to run the thing. Some don’t even have a building to put their stuff in,” he said. “It is what it is, but it makes it hard on these departments.”

None of the fire departments in Ozark County are tax-funded, meaning they are funded solely by voluntary member dues and fundraisers. The exception is Gainesville Fire Department, which is supported by city sales tax. 

As the smoke clears and Bakersfield begins to recover, the strength and unity of the community are evident. The fire may have caused significant damage, but it also showcased the dedication of local responders and residents who came together to protect the town.

Yet, as Chief Watts and Assistant Chief Duke point out, the need for more volunteer firefighters and first responders, updated equipment and funding remains urgent for the fire departments. The bravery shown that day serves as a reminder that while the fire has been stopped, the fight for support and preparedness continues. Thanks to the efforts of many, Bakersfield stands strong—and with continued support, it will face whatever challenges come next.

To find out what fire district you are in and how you can pay dues, make a donation or volunteer, contact the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at 417-679-4633.

Bakersfield resident Stephanie Guffey said that several community members are planning a fundraiser for the Bakersfield VFD sometime late spring or early summer. Look for details in upcoming editions of the Ozark County Times and on social media.