Small Missouri town ‘devastated’ by destructive wildfire

WOOLDRIDGE, Mo. (AP) — Roughly half of a small Missouri town burned Saturday after a wildfire spread quickly from a farm field and destroyed or heavily damaged 23 buildings. No one died and only one person was injured, but the less than 100 people living in the town of Wooldridge had to be evacuated. The blaze was sparked in a field by a combine that was harvesting crops. Cooper County Fire District spokesman Jim Gann said Sunday that between 4.6 and 5.4 square miles burned before the fire was controlled. Wooldridge is a town of less than 100 people about 20 miles west of Columbia along the Missouri River. A separate fire Sunday prompted some evacuations in the Kansas City area.