NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Sally McGregor, RalstonGroup, 541.388.2003, sally@ralstongroup.com

FireFree Sees Increase in Sisters, Redmond and La Pine

(Bend, Ore.)--The third and final FireFree Clean-up Weekend of 2002 was held at the Sisters, Redmond and La Pine transfer stations May 4 & 5, with each station seeing record clean-up amounts.

The La Pine transfer station collected a whopping 909 cubic yards of debris and counted 348 vehicles this year, representing a 30 percent increase in debris collected and 44 percent increase in participation over 2001.

The Sisters transfer station collected 460 cubic yards of debris and greeted 182 vehicles. This is a 61 percent increase in debris collected, and a 41 percent increase in participation from 2001.

And, the Redmond, or Negus transfer station collected 647 cubic yards of debris and welcomed 337 vehicles. This represents an 90 percent increase in debris collected and 99 percent increase in participation over 2001.

A total of five FireFree clean-ups were held this year, including the three mentioned above and two at Knott Landfill, April 20 & 21 and 27 & 28. Overall, the program generated a total of 13,225 cubic yards of combustible material and counted 4,848 participants.

"We are thrilled to see that the program is successfully extending throughout Central Oregon," said Gary Marshall, City of Bend Fire Marshal. "We have had high hopes that this program would succeed and expand throughout the region and we are very pleased to see that it has. Central Oregonians are really pitching in taking part in the prevention of catastrophic wildfire damage."

The FireFree Program is a public education campaign designed to increase resident participation in wildfire defense and mitigate losses due to wildfire. At the height of the campaign are the Firefree Clean-up weekends in which Deschutes County residents may dispose of yard debris free of charge at Knott Landfill, and now area transfer stations. Grants from SAFECO, Deschutes Project Impact, and Deschutes County made it possible to extend the program, now in its fifth year.

The program is sponsored by SAFECO and Project Impact in partnership with the Central Oregon Fire Agencies.

For more information on the FireFree Program, call 322-6309 or look up our web site at www.firefree.org.

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