| Oregon Garden Fire Safety House |
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| What is the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House project? |
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The Oregon Garden Fire Safety House
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The first full-scale fire prevention and safety house in the nation. An existing home at the Oregon Garden in Silverton will be developed into an exhibit featuring fire-resistant landscaping and building construction on the outside, and home fire prevention and safety on the inside.
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| Why is this project needed? |
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The Oak Knoll Fire in 2010 near Ashland burned 11 homes
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Wildfire is a growing threat to forests, lives, and property in Oregon. Population expansion into previously undeveloped areas has placed people, many of whom hail from metropolitan areas, into a fire environment they are unfamiliar with. This has sometimes led to disaster, with lives endangered and property destroyed.
Home fires are a reality that cannot be ignored. From 2005 to 2009, Oregon had an average of 2,500 home fires per year, resulting in more than $60 million in property loss annually. Ninety-six Oregonians died and nearly 700 were injured in home fires during this five-year period. It is important to educate homeowners on what they can do to protect their homes, inside and out, from fire.
Conversely, in the wildland-urban interface many wildfires that ravage forests are started by human activity in and around homes.
The Fire Safety House will illustrate the best fire prevention and safety practices for homeowners in the wildland-urban interface to follow.
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| Who is participating in the project? |
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The Oregon Garden Fire Safety House is being developed by a partnership that includes:
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The Oregon Garden Foundation - The Oregon Garden is an 80-acre botanical sanctuary that showcases the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest with more than 20 individual themed gardens and related attractions.
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The Oregon Department of Forestry - The department's mission is to serve the people of Oregon by protecting, managing, and promoting stewardship of Oregon's forests to enhance environmental, economic, and community sustainability.
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The Office of State Fire Marshal - The mission of the Office of State Fire Marshal is protecting citizens, their property, and the environment from fire and hazardous materials. |
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Oregon State University - As a land grant institution committed to teaching, research, and outreach and engagement, Oregon State University promotes economic, social, cultural, and environmental progress for the people of Oregon, the nation, and the world. |
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Moonstone Garden Management, Inc. - Moonstone Garden Management's mission is creating unequalled garden-themed destinations that offer recreation, fun, and personal growth in desirable settings where they strive to treat guests and employees as they want to be treated. |
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - FEMA provided a $600,000 Fire Prevention and Safety Grant towards the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House. These grants support projects that enchance the safety of the public and firefighters from fire and related hazards. The primary goal is to target high-risk populations and reduce injury and pevent death. |
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| How will the project be funded? |
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A $600,000 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund the creation of interpretive fire education displays. It will also pay for production of a video program chronicling the project to serve as an instructional tool for homeowners. The cost to remodel the home and landscape the property will be paid through other grants and donations, including from corporate sponsors.
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| When will the Fire Safety House be open to the public? |
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Preliminary construction has begun, with the exhibit scheduled to open to the public in July 2011.
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| Watch our progress |
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As the project partners continue work on the Fire Safety House, photos will be posted on this website illustrating both the interior and exterior work in progress.
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| Concerns about costs and appearance about making my house wildfire-safe |
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A fuel break can help protect your home from wildfire
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Modifying my home to protect it from wildfire could be a significant expense. Can’t I just depend on the fire department to protect it from a wildfire and/or structural concerns?
Rural fire departments cover a lot of ground with relatively few resources, so their response time is typically longer than that of a municipal fire department. When a fire occurs, the steps you’ve taken in advance to reduce your home’s vulnerability can buy time until firefighters arrive.
Many improvements can be made with as little as a one-to-two hour time commitment using tools that most homeowners already have in their garage. In really large wildfire incidents there will never be enough fire fighters or firefighting equipment to protect all homes.”
I’ve heard that proper landscaping can help in a wildfire. But I don’t want my lot to look like a moonscape.
When completed, the landscaping around the Fire Safety House will demonstrate how to enhance the visual appeal of your home and at the same time protect it from an encroaching wildfire. Fire-resistant shrubs and trees planted in appropriate patterns can serve two key functions: prevent ground fire from reaching the structure, and shield it from radiant heat produced by a flame front.
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| What will there be to learn about fire safety inside the Fire Safety House? |
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A "before" picture of the interior of the Fire Safety House
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Inside the house, visitors will learn the basic steps every homeowner can take to prevent fires from starting in the home. They’ll receive information on the top causes of home fires in Oregon including cooking, cigarettes, electrical, combustibles too close to an ignition source, home heating and more. Visitors will also have opportunities to learn about smoke alarms and residential sprinkler systems, along with many other tips.
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| Project Supporters |
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National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) - NFPA is a worldwide leader in providing fire, electrical, building, and life safety to the public since 1986. The mission of the international nonprofit organization is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training and education. |
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Firewise Communities - The NFPA's Firewise Communities program encourages local solutions for wildfire safety by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, firefighters, and others in the effort to protect people and property from the risk of wildfire. The program is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters. |
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Agriculture Development and Marketing Division, Oregon Department of Agriculture - As a state agency that both regulates and promotes hte industry, the Oregon Department of Agriculture is poised to assist farmers, ranchers, food processors, and the many other inviolved with agriculture to achieve success. The department's three-fold mission includes natural resource protection, food safety and consumer protection, and agricultural marketing. |
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Oregon Life Safety Team - The Community Education Services Unit of the Office of State Fire Marshal coordinates the multi-disciplinary Oregon Life Safety Team who coordinates and implements consistent statewide fire prevention and life safety education and endorses, promotes, and distributes educational materials.
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Project Wildfire - Project Wildfire's mission is to prevent deaths, injuries, property loss, and environmental damage resulting from wildfires. |
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Keep Oregon Green Association - The mission of Keep Oregon Green is to reduce the number of human-caused wildfires in Oregon through awareness and education. |
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| Private Company Support |
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The following private companies are providing support for the Fire Safety House:
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Neil Kelly Design and Remodelers - The Neil Kelly Company is providing drafting services for the exhibit's remodeling plans. |
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Room Service Home Technologies is engineering and designing the audio, video, and theater construction design for the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House. Room Service Home Technologies has served the Pacific Northwest for the last 18 years with experience in automation, home theater, security and surveillance, lighting control, video and audio distribution, energy conservation, shade controls, and aging in place. Located in the Portland Metro area, Room Service Home Technologies has received a number of national awards, including "Best Integrated Home - West" from "Innovative Housing Technology" and ranked in the top 10 in their field for multiple years. Their mission is to provide their customers maximum value by understanding, then exceeding, their expectations, while delivering the very best customer service possible. |
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State Farm Insurance has donated $5,000 to the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House. |
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RainFire Protection is providing labor for the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House's landscaping makeover. RainFire provides a variety of services relating to home and/or community protection and hazardous materials remediation, including community threat and home defensive zone assessments, firefighting, fuels reduction, erosion control and trail rehabilitation, and animal control. |
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Western States Fire Protection Co. is providing the interior sprinkler system for the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House - representing an approximate $30,000 donation to this makeover project. The mission of the Western States Fire Protection Co. is to provide quality solutions for the protection of lives and property, providing an exceptional value for their customers. |
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Road Sprinkler Fitters Local Union 669, U.A., AFL-CIO, is dedicated to the education and training of its members in the installation, maintenance, and inspection of fire sprinkler systems and life safety issues. The local provides contractors with journeymen and apprentices who have the aptitude, knowledge, and skills to install a quality fire protection systems. Members work safely, proudly, and reliably to assure their contractors and end-users that the fire protection system will operate correctly every time. Road Sprinkler Fitters Local Union 669 is providing all of the labor - at no cost - to install the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House sprinkler system. |
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| Corporate Sponsorship |
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The Oregon Garden entrance
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The Oregon Garden Foundation has embarked on a major corporate sponsorship campaign for the Fire Safety House.
Proposal for Corporate Sponsorship of the Fire Prevention/Safety Display House: An Exhibit at the Oregon Garden [PDF; 16 pages; 1,869 KB]
For more information on corporate sponsorship, contact:
Philip Stuva, Director of Development
The Oregon Garden Foundation
PO Box 155
Silverton, OR 97381
PH: 503-874-2664
PStuva@OregonGarden.org
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| Where can I get more information on ways to protect my home from wildfire? |
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Several organizations offer free tips on making your home survivable in a wildfire or to prevent home fires. Here are just a few:
- Oregon Department of Forestry, 503-945-7200, www.oregon.gov/odf
- Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal, 503-378-3473, www.oregon.gov/OSP/SFM/
- Oregon State University Extension, 541-548-6088, http://extensionweb.forestry.oregonstate.edu/wildland-fire-education-program
- Keep Oregon Green Association, 503-945-7499, http://keeporegongreen.com/
- Firewise Communities, 617-984-7486, www.firewise.org/
- FireFree, 541-322-7129, www.firefree.org/
A set of Frequently Asked Questions About the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House that serves as the foundation for much of the content on this web page is also available in PDF format:
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| Find us on Facebook! |
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The Oregon Garden Fire Safety House is on Facebook. Find us there, "like" us, and become a Fan.
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| For more information . . . |
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For more information on the Oregon Garden Fire Safety House, contact:
Craig Pettinger
North Cascade District
Oregon Department of Forestry
22965 North Fork Road SE
Lyons, OR 97358
PH: 503-859-4331
cpettinger@odf.state.or.us
www.oregon.gov/odf/northcascade
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