M.C.O. Rural Fire District No. 1 sees red
After the M.C.O. Rural Fire District No. 1 became part of the North Central Task Force No. 1 in 2018, they have provided mutual aid to other fire districts in combating wildfires including Medicine Lodge – (400,000 acres loss in Oklahoma and Kansas over four days in 2016), Hutchinson – (656,000 acres in at least 21 Kansas counties on March 8, 2017) and currently to Nebraska. The regional Wildland Task Force was assembled by the USDA Forest Service Analysis Team as part of a statewide initiative to assist wildfire incidents after over half a million acres burned during 2016-17.