Richard Wilson will never forget Aug. 23, 1990.

That’s when he helped save lives during a disastrous anhydrous ammonia spill at a plant near Wellsville-Middletown High School. He was working as a chief of the Wellsville Fire Protection District that day.

The spill caused damage to crops, lawns, trees and plants and killed a dog. But there were no serious injuries.

“It was a national story,” Wilson said.

The incident 36 years ago was one of the biggest highlights of Wilson’s life. He was 36 years old when the ammonia spill happened.

Today, Wilson still works as a chief at the Wellsville Fire Department. He has been chief since 1985.

“I have literally witnessed him risk his own life serving in this capacity,” said Doug Nuckolls, Wilson’s friend.

Wilson is now 72 years old and continues to be active in the City of Wellsville. Besides being a fire chief, he also serves as a member of the Wellsville Board of Aldermen.

Wilson also served many years as a member of the Wellsville-Middletown R-I School Board and worked as a youth baseball coach in Wellsville. He was a member of the Montgomery County Fair Board.

Nuckolls first met Wilson when he moved to the community in 1988.

“One day, Richard walks across the street to the bank to ask me if I could coach Khoury League,” Nuckolls said.

Wilson said all he wanted to do was to help get Nuckolls involved in the Wellsville community. Little league was a start.

“At that time, people reached out and tried to get people started in little league,” Wilson said.

Wilson has lived in Wellsville all of his life. He graduated from Wellsville-Middletown High School in 1972. His mother worked as a clerk during World War II.

It takes 90 minutes to drive from Wellsville to St. Louis. Wilson said a long time ago, driving to St. Louis from Wellsville was challenging.

“I can remember as a child that it took three hours to get to St. Louis,” Wilson said. “You have to stop and go through New Florence, go down where the North Service Road is, which is Highway 40, stop in High Hill, stop in Jonesburg, stop at Warrenton and stop at Truesdale,” Wilson said. “That’s how much has gone in my lifetime. Can you imagine what’s going to be like in another 25 years, especially with the (construction of) data centers? You have to watch for deer because there weren’t any deer back then. You have to watch for cows.”

After attending Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University), Wilson got a job at the brick plant outside of Wellsville.

Wilson worked at the plant for 30 years before it was shut down in 2002. He said Wellsville changed when the plant closed.

“It destroyed our community and never rebounded since,” Wilson said.

Wilson said during his younger years, Wellsville was a thriving community that had grocery stores and restaurants.

“You couldn’t find a parking spot in town,” Wilson said. “You couldn’t drive around the block three or four times to get a place to park. Every business was full. Every building was full.”

Today, Wellsville has about 1,000 residents. Wilson said even though the city’s population has decreased, residents still help each other out.

“Let’s say somebody has cancer,” Wilson said. “This community would get together and raise $40 to 50,000 for them. It’s the sense of the community.”

Wilson was a big help to the Wellsville community on that August day of 1990. At about 9:50 a.m., a report was made about an explosion at the anhydrous ammonia plant near the school. The call sent many first responders – including Wilson – rushing to the scene and handling the situation.

The accident occurred when a tanker truck was unloading anhydrous ammonia at Dunbar Ag Services at the north side of Wellsville and the hose of the truck exploded, resulting in a release of a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia.
Nuckolls remembered that moment.

“There was a huge tank just across the parking lot from the high school,” Nuckolls said. “The truck was delivering anhydrous and did something to the valve. Anhydrous was coming out all over the place. I was working across the street. It was me, Richard and the owner of the plant out there.”

After teachers and administrators saw the cloud of ammonia, they immediately evacuated the students to Wellsville-Middletown Elementary.

“The heroes that day were the school administrators and teachers,” Wilson said. “It was the very first day of school. The teachers thought it was a drill. Nobody got excited. They pulled all of the buses over. They loaded every bus.”

Firemen from all of the departments in Montgomery County worked to water down the ammonia, causing it to dissipate. It was during a day in which a light wind was blowing from the southeast.

“If the wind would have gone in a different direction, it could have killed all of the kids at school,” Nuckolls said.

Wilson is the longest tenured member of the Wellsville fire department at 52 years. He is also serving his third term as Wellsville Ward I Alderman. In April, he defeated Bob Maxwell in the general election to retain his seat.

Nuckolls said Wilson has been a valuable asset to the Wellsville community.

“He is a true friend to everyone he knows,” he said.