YATES CENTER — Yates Center Fire Chief Brandon Gaulding was expecting the worst. He’d been told there was a special meeting Wednesday evening, and he was expected to render accounts for the actions of his department during the South Owl Fire on March 14, 2025.
That fire burned 130 acres and caused nearly $4.5 million in damages, including the total destruction of the Yates Center Health and Rehab nursing home. Gaulding assumed someone’s job was on the line, and it was probably his.
So you’d have to forgive the bewildered look on Gaulding’s face as Fort Scott Fire Chief David Bruner addressed a crowd of over 40. “Before we get started,” said Bruner, barely concealing a smile, “I just want you to know I had nothing to do with it.”
Then instead of launching into an investigation of last March’s blaze, Bruner presented Gaulding with the Kansas State Association of Fire Chiefs President’s Award. Gaulding’s expression changed from resolute, to disbelieving, to one of astonished gratitude, all in the span of about a minute.
“I was just one person there,” said Gaulding softly. “There are a lot of people who deserve this award just as much as I do. All of us were there.”
Johnny Atkin IV, Director of Woodson County Emergency Management, nominated Gaulding for the award. In his nomination letter, Atkin wrote that Gaulding’s performance that day “exemplified the highest standards of the Kansas fire service: courage, leadership, and selfless commitment to the protection of others.”
The quick actions of the Yates Center Fire Department undoubtedly spared the lives of the 38 residents of Yates Center Health & Rehab, who were all safely evacuated with no injuries. “Even as the building was consumed, Chief Gaulding and his firefighters held the fireline at the nursing home, containing the spread and preventing what would have been catastrophic loss of life and property throughout the city,” Atkin wrote.
Gaulding was visibly moved by the recognition, pausing in his remarks several times as he thanked the crowd. “I hope we never have to go through that again,” he concluded. “But if we do, we’ll be there. We’ll all be there.”
The Yates Center Fire Department went to great lengths to deceive Gaulding, even formulating an official meeting agenda with action items, as well as a fabricated “Confidential Memo” from the nursing home’s owners. “I had absolutely no idea,” Gaulding said with a smile afterwards. But he was already plotting his revenge. “I think everybody deserves a couple days of extra PT.”
Atkin just smiled. “It’s about time Yates Center had some good news,” he said. “This is something we can all celebrate.”
