Town of Blackstone Receives Grant Funding from Firefighter Safety Equipment, SAFE, and Community Transit Programs

BLACKSTONE — Town Administrator Chad Lovett, Fire Chief Kevin Roy, and Senior Center Director Maggie Gundersen are pleased to share that the Town of Blackstone has received grant awards for the Blackstone Fire Department and Senior Center through the Firefighter Safety Equipment, Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE), Senior SAFE, and Community Transit Grant programs.

The Firefighter Safety Equipment Grant program reimburses purchases of eligible equipment. Purchasing this equipment often helps departments comply with Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) or National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) safety standards.

The Blackstone Fire Department will use its $2,278.81 of funding to purchase gear, including PFAS-free firefighting gear. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of chemicals found in older firefighter turnout gear that have been linked to cancer and other serious health effects.

The department also received funding from the SAFE and Senior SAFE program grants.

The SAFE program provides grants to local fire departments to teach fire and life safety to children in schools, with protection education lessons that increase in complexity with each grade level. The program teaches students to recognize the dangers of fire and the fire hazards of tobacco products through 23 key fire safety behaviors. Since it began in 1995, the program has been linked to a 79% decrease in child fire fatalities.

The Blackstone Fire Department will utilize the $4,700 to fund school visits and presentations on fire safety, including the costs of paying overtime for the visits and handouts for the students.

Senior SAFE is a similar program that aims to reduce fire-related deaths in older people by providing fire and life safety education within older demographics. These programs visit senior centers, councils on aging, and home visits and can include services like smoke and carbon monoxide alarm replacement, fall prevention education, and more. 

The $2,200 Senior SAFE grant will help fund the department’s visits to senior living facilities for fire education presentations. With these funds, the department can continue the resident Knox Box key boxes for seniors, for which the department oversees the application and maintenance at the homes of senior residents.

The Blackstone Senior Center/Council on Aging was also awarded a new van through the Community Transit Grant Program.

“We are grateful to have received such generous funding through these programs,” Town Administrator Lovett said. “These grants will allow us to further protect our community by providing our firefighters with new gear, allowing us opportunities to educate the community, and providing services to the Senior Center.”

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