Missouri Firefighters Helping Burn Survivors Rebuild Their Lives
When firefighters respond to a fire, their work can change the course of someone’s life in a matter of minutes. But when the trucks leave and the emergency ends, a burn survivor’s journey may just be beginning.
At Burns Recovered, we have the privilege of walking alongside survivors during what comes next.
For more than four decades, Burns Recovered has supported burn and smoke inhalation survivors and their families throughout Missouri and the Midwest. Through peer support, Midwest Children’s Burn Camp, family programming, retreats, and other opportunities, our goal is simple: help survivors build confidence, community, and a life beyond their injury.
Missouri’s firefighters have always been an important part of that mission.
When Plans Change, the Mission Does Not
This year reminded us just how resilient the Burns Recovered community can be.
After significant and historic flooding damaged Camp Taum Sauk, the longtime home of Midwest Children’s Burn Camp, we had to adapt. Our camp community came together at YMCA Trout Lodge, ensuring that our young burn survivors could continue experiencing the connection and belonging that make these programs so important.
For a child with a burn injury, camp is much more than a week away from home.
It may be the first place they meet another child with scars like theirs. It is a place where they do not have to explain what happened to them. They can swim, climb, laugh, try something difficult, make friends, and simply be kids.
These experiences help young survivors discover that their scars are part of their story, but they do not define what they are capable of becoming.
Taking Resilience Into the Wilderness
This October, Burns Recovered is expanding that mission with a brand-new opportunity for our teenage burn survivors: Wilderness Retreat: Rekindling Strength in the Wild.
For 5 days in October, teenagers and volunteer leaders will head into the Buffalo National River wilderness in Arkansas for a multi-day backpacking experience.
Participants will carry their gear, hike challenging terrain, camp in the backcountry, and rely on one another to accomplish something difficult.
The goal is bigger than backpacking.
We want our teenagers to experience themselves as strong, capable leaders. We want them to discover that they can do difficult things and carry that confidence back into their schools, families, friendships, and futures.
Recovery Through Connection
Our programs are also strong beyond camp.
Burns Recovered continues to expand our Peer Support Program, connecting burn survivors and their families with people who understand what they are experiencing.
Imagine surviving a devastating fire and waking up in a hospital wondering what your life will look like. Your appearance may have changed. Your body may work differently. You may be facing months or years of recovery.
Then someone walks into your life who has been there before.
That person cannot erase what happened, but they can say, “I understand, I am here.”
Sometimes that connection changes everything.
We want burn survivors and their families to know that they do not have to navigate recovery alone.
From Rescue to Recovery: A Missouri Story
Few stories illustrate this connection better than that of Cody Boswell, owner of Missouri Auto Auction in Columbia.
Cody is a burn survivor himself. In 2005, he was critically injured in a house fire, sustaining severe burns and smoke inhalation injuries. Columbia firefighters were among those who helped save his life.
Years later, Cody is helping other burn survivors.
This September, Burns Recovered had the opportunity to attend Missouri Auto Auction’s event in Columbia and see firsthand the generosity of Cody, his team, and their community.
There is something incredibly meaningful about that full circle:
Firefighters helped save Cody’s life. Today, Cody is helping change the lives of other burn survivors.
The Columbia Fire Department has also demonstrated what partnership with Burns Recovered can look like by hosting a golf tournament benefiting our organization.
They are not alone.
Fire departments and firefighters across Missouri have supported Burns Recovered in countless ways. Departments have held Fill the Boot fundraisers. Firefighters have volunteered their time. Departments and community partners have attended and supported our fundraising events. Others have provided in-kind donations—even items as simple as bucket hats for our campers.
Every one of those contributions matters.
MO Firefighters: We Need You
We would love to see even more Missouri fire departments become part of the Burns Recovered family.
You do not need a huge budget or an elaborate fundraiser to make a difference.
Host a Fill the Boot fundraiser or golf tournament. Choose Burns Recovered as the beneficiary of a department or community event. Donate needed supplies for camp. Sponsor one of our programs. Donate tickets, experiences, vacation stays, or other items for our auctions. Volunteer. Share our mission with your community.
And perhaps most importantly, remember us when you encounter a burn survivor.
Your department may be there on one of the worst days of that person’s life. Burns Recovered wants to be there during the days, months, and years that follow.
Join Us at Beyond Scars
One easy way to begin that relationship is to join us at our largest annual fundraising celebration.
Beyond Scars: A Celebration of Resilience will be held February 6, 2027, at Piazza Messina in Cottleville, Missouri.
Formerly known as Summit for Seventy: Bourbon and Cigars, the event’s new name better represents what we celebrate: the extraordinary resilience of burn survivors and the community that surrounds them.
We would love to fill the room with firefighters from across Missouri.
Departments can attend, sponsor the event, donate auction items, or simply help spread the word.
The Call Ends. Your Impact Does Not
Firefighters see people during moments most of us will never witness.
You rescue. You stabilize. You comfort families. You save lives.
At Burns Recovered, we often get to see the chapters that come afterward.
We see the child who once tried to hide their scars standing confidently in front of their peers. We see teenagers accomplish things they did not believe they could do. We see adult survivors return to hospitals to reassure someone at the beginning of the same journey. We see survivors like Cody turn their own experiences into opportunities to lift others.
And woven throughout so many of those stories are firefighters.
To the Missouri firefighters and departments that have already supported Burns Recovered: thank you. To those we have not met yet: we would love to have you join us. Because putting out the fire may be where the emergency ends. But helping someone rebuild their life can last a lifetime.
Get Involved
Burns Recovered Midwest Children’s Burn Camp
Learn more about volunteering, supporting our programs, partnering with Burns Recovered, or attending Beyond Scars: A Celebration of Resilience at www.brsg.org.
Burns Recovered is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving burn and smoke inhalation survivors and their families.
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