GEORGETOWN — Chief Fred A. Mitchell Jr. is pleased to report that the Georgetown Fire Department has been awarded $4,692 for the Fiscal Year 2021 Student Awareness of Fire Education (S.A.F.E.) Program and $2,480 for the Senior SAFE Program by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.
Funding for the programs allows for specially trained fire educators to work with classroom teachers and seniors to deliver age-appropriate lessons on fire and life safety. The key fire and life safety behaviors in the school-based program meet both the requirements of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Health Curriculum Frameworks and the state Department of Fire Services Curriculum Planning Guidebook.
“We are grateful to receive this funding once again from the state,” Chief Mitchell said. “Our firefighters enjoy working closely with our community members of all ages to help them learn what they can do to prevent fires and how to respond correctly to fires and other emergencies.”
The S.A.F.E. Program provides $1.2 million through the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to local fire departments. The Senior SAFE Program provides an additional $600,000 in grant funds from fees paid by tobacco companies to the Fire Standard Compliant Cigarette Program to ensure their products meet the fire safety requirements to be sold in Massachusetts.
The average number of children who die in fires each year in Massachusetts has dropped 78 percent since the program started compared to a similar time frame before it started, according to the state’s Department of Fire Services, which administers the two programs.
For more information about the Student Awareness of Fire Education or Senior SAFE Programs, call Chief Mitchell or S.A.F.E. Coordinator Donna Robbins at 978-352-5757 or go to www.mass.gov/dfs and type “SAFE” in the “search this organization” box.
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