The Hardin Fire Protection District covers 80 square miles of the southeastern corner of Ray County, Missouri, and its 1,800 residents. Our 20 dedicated volunteers provide fire, rescue, hazmat, first responder, EMS, and fire prevention services to the area from our single station. During the past several years as we have trained and become more capable as a department we have added Emergency Medical Response, Rescue, and Hazardous Materials to our resume.

While primarily rural we are located within 40 minutes of Kansas City, putting us in the approach path of the Kansas City International Airport. Our district encompasses railways for Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk & Southern. These lines carry over 150 trains daily through our district. We also have a pipeline carrying gasoline and diesel fuel which runs through the middle of our town. The city of Hardin is also on a semi¬-major highway route to Kansas City. We also protect a regional bridge across the Missouri River.

Our Fire Protection District largely protects farmland and wildlands. We have several large agricultural based enterprises in our district as well as a small number of businesses. Our community also has an elementary and high school as well as a small residential area. Our responses go from EMS responses for our elderly population to train derailments. We can experience tractor ¬trailer wrecks and structure fires. We face the normal weather patterns of any Midwestern community, from blazing summers to snow and ice storms. Our district is a rural, agricultural based community with a small town that is common to the Midwest section of the country. Like all of our brothers and sisters in the fire service we are ready to meet the challenges we face with the resources we have.