Rural Residents Fought Wild Fire on Christmas Day 1950
The headlines on media and internet have focused this past week on the Los Angeles fires in which people had very little or no time to prepare for evacuating. Rural residents south of Windsor fought a wild fire, though on a smaller scale, 75 years ago.
Most of the fires in this part of Central Missouri are house fires occurring during the coldest temperatures; however, on Christmas Day, 1950, the Windsor area had a massive wild grass and brush fire started by trash burning. It had been a dry fall, and the temperature on Christmas Day had reached in the high 40s with a strong wind.[1]
This writer remembers Christmas Day in 1950 had been sunny, and we had seen the dark smoke lifting high in the sky southwest of our farm east of Windsor in Pettis County. Soon a neighbor told my father that the smoke was from an out-of-control wild fire between Roseland and Harmony Church in adjoining Henry and Benton Counties. My father had been told that a woman near Roseland had caused the fire by burning Christmas wrapping paper which soon became a raging grass fire on a windy day.
The Windsor Review headlines read, “GRASS FIRE SWEPT WIDE AREA MONDAY (Flames Started by Trash Fire Near Roseland Burned Over Thousands of Acres of Land). The newspaper reported, “One of the largest fires in this area started near Roseland about one o’clock Monday, Christmas Day, when a trash fire got out of control and because of the high wind and dry vegetation, was soon raging in a northeasterly direction across corn fields and pastureland.” [2]
The newspaper continued, “It has been estimated by some that approximately two thousand acres were burned which included two barns, many hay stacks, hay and pasture land, corn cribs and hundreds of fence posts. Several farm homes were threatened when the dry grass caused the blaze to sweep up around foundations.” [2]
Livestock were hurried into barns or other areas. Some families moved furniture and personal possessions onto trucks and wagons to be able to move out of the path of the fire if it became necessary. Farm tractors with plows, a maintainer, and men and women fought with wet burlap sacks to bring the fire pretty much under control five hours later, around one o’clock, at the Charles Bell farm near Harmony Church. The Clinton County Democrat stated, “The eventual halting of the fire was managed by clearing a path along Harmony Road with tractors and building a 100-yard backfire.” Some men continued to fight smoldering blazes until 10:30 p.m. that night.[2], [3]
Ernie Mueller and Albert Season lost their barns in the fire, and Albert Season’s barn was filled with corn and lespedeza seed. Outbuildings at the Centerview School were burned, but the school escaped. The Clinton Daily Democrat concluded. “No official estimate of damage has been made, but it was expected to reach several thousand dollars.” [3] (GEM Note: Neither of the Windsor or Clinton newspapers mentioned the name of the person responsible for starting the fire.)
Albert & Mabel Bumpus published a Note of Appreciation in the classified ads section of The Windsor Review: “To everyone who helped in any way when the fire swept over farms December 25, we thank you more than words can express.” Mr. & Mrs. Earl Hand and the Clark Sisters wrote, “To each one who helped to extinguish the grass fire on our farms, the telephone operators for their efficient help, we are deeply grateful.” [3]
Thanks to a community effort, several farm homes and barns had escaped the fire.
Sources: [1] “Weather Temperatures,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Dec. 25, 1950. [2] The Windsor Review, Dec. 25, 1950. [3] The Clinton County Democrat, Dec. 25, 1950.
