SHREWSBURY — Fire Chief James Vuona is pleased to announce that the Shrewsbury Fire Department has been awarded $6,380 for the Fiscal Year 2021 Student Awareness of Fire Education (S.A.F.E.) Program and $2,880 for the Senior SAFE Program by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.
The Department will use the grant money buy public education materials and fire prevention handouts and to help supplement training and overtime, bolstering efforts in schools and the senior community.
“We are grateful to the state for this funding. Education is a big part of fire safety and prevention, and important to the work we do,” Chief Vuona said. “The Department will be able to continue to give students and seniors in the community the resources they need to stay safe and protect loved ones as a result of these funds.”
Funding 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.
The average number of children who die in fires each year in Massachusetts has dropped 78% 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.
The S.A.F.E. and Senior SAFE Programs provide $1.9 million through the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to local fire departments. The programs are administered by the state’s Department of Fire Services.
To learn more about the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services’ SAFE program, click here.
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