About

Jackson County Fire District No. 5

A professional organization with friendly, "small-town" customer service, we're proud that our motto is:
‍
"We Still Make House Calls!"

Jackson County Fire District No.5 is an all-risk agency that provides fire suppression, wildland firefighting, Advanced Life Support, hazardous material, rescue, and extrication services. JCFD5 operates out of three (3) fully staffed fire stations located in the communities of Phoenix, Talent, and unincorporated Ashland with a population of over 23,000.

The Fire District encompasses 120 square miles of urban, suburban, rural, and frontier land that ranges from busy interstate commercial transportation, manufacturing, hospitality and lodging, government facilities, schools, places of worship, entertainment venues, wineries and vineyards, ranches and farms, food processing, power generation, and year-round recreation areas.

Jackson County Fire District No.5 includes two cities, unincorporated Jackson County and state and federal responsibility areas. It is bordered by the Oregon/CaliforniaState Line and the BLM Cascade - Siskiyou Monument to the South, Klamath National Forest and the Pacific Coast Trail to the West, Medford to the North and the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest to the East.

In cooperation with our neighboring fire agencies we provide and receive automatic aid in an area over 200 square miles with a metropolitan population of 208,545. The Rogue Valley, including Jackson County Fire District No.5 is the fourth largest metro area in Oregon. The Fire District enjoys a cooperative relationship with the neighboring fire andforest agencies including: Medford Fire & Rescue, Medford Rural Fire District No.2, Jackson County Fire District No.3, Ashland Fire &Rescue, US Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

History

PHOENIX—The Phoenix area was settled in about 1850 by brothers Hiram and Samuel Colver. Samuel Colver laid out the town in 1854. Early residents included Milton Lindley, who operated a sawmill that provided timbers in 1855 for a blockhouse as well as a flouring mill owned by Sylvester M. Wait. For a time, the settlement was known locally as Gasburg after a talkative employee in the kitchen serving the mill hands. Wait, who was an agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, assigned the official name, Phoenix, to the community and, in 1857, to its post office. Waitsburg, Washington, was later named after Wait.

TALENT—A. P. Tallent, an East Tennessee native who settled in Oregon in the 1870s, platted the city in the 1880s. He wanted to name it Wagner but was over-ruled by postal officials, who preferred Talent, dropping one of the l's. The post office opened at this location in 1883. Earlier names for the settlement were Eden District and Wagner Creek.

NEIL CREEK/HWY 66—Neil Creek is located in the Rogue River basin of southern Oregon. It supports some of the most productive fishery habitats in the Bear Creek watershed. It is home to Coho salmon and other wildlife and native plant species. Highway 66 is the gateway to Dead Indian Memorial Road and is one of the oldest trans-Cascade travel routes in southern Oregon. It connects Ashland and the Rogue River Valley with the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument, the first U.S. National monument set aside solely for the preservation of biodiversity, and the Upper Klamath Basin. The road crosses the headwaters of Dead Indian Creek near Howard Prairie Reservoir. In the 1990s, Jackson County changed the name to Dead Indian Memorial Road, but the controversy continues.

TALENT/PHOENIX— In 1963 Jackson County Fire District No. 5 was incorporated as a volunteer fire department. Originally Talent Rural Fire Protection District, it served rural Talent and Phoenix operating out of one fire station. The Fire District protect-ed approximately 35 square miles. In 1968, the District moved to 716 South Pacific Highway in Talent, annexed Barron Rural Fire District southeast of Ash-land, and added another station on Neil Creek Road. The District was now 65 square miles.

By the 1970s, the District be-came JCFD No. 5 employing 12 firefighters and 25 volunteers. Other milestones included the annexation of the City of Talent (1998) and the construction of the headquarters fire station in 2004. The annexation of the City of Phoe-nix (2008) added a third fire station and a fire response area over 120 square miles.

Firehouse Five Foundation

HELPING OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT HELP OUR COMMUNITY

Firehouse Five, a local Non-profit Foundation was founded in 2001 by Barbara Decker and Pat Halpin to fund programs that would provide assistance to local fire victims, scholarships, and projects to support our local firefighters and community members.

Mission Statement: To provide humanitarian assistance to members of the community in south Jackson County, Oregon, and to provide opportunities for the community to become involved in the growth and support of the public fire and emergency medical services agencies with programs that include crisis support, education, fundraising, grants and/or projects and publicity/information.

Goals to support Mission Statement:
1. Crisis Support
2. Education
3. Fund Raising
4. Grants/Projects
5. Publicity/Information

Firehouse Five

Community Donation Relief Fund

#almedafire

Facebook Page

Contact Firehouse Five Foundation
PO Box 1401
Talent, OR 97540
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(541) 535-4222
(541) 227-4529
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info@fhffoundation.org
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EIN 71-0868856

About

A professional organization with friendly, "small-town" customer service, we're proud that our motto is:‍"We Still Make House Calls!"

HELPING OUR FIRE DEPARTMENT HELP OUR COMMUNITY

Firehouse Five, a local Non-profit Foundation was founded in 2001 by Barbara Decker and Pat Halpin to fund programs that would provide assistance to local fire victims, scholarships, and projects to support our local firefighters and community members.

Community Donation Relief Fund

A professional organization with friendly, "small-town" customer service, we're proud that our motto is:
‍
"We Still Make House Calls!"