Holliston Fire Department Receives State Grant for Student Awareness of Fire Education Program

by Chief Michael Cassidy 12/6/11

State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Holliston Fire Chief Michael R. Cassidy announced that Holliston Fire Department has been awarded $4,665 for the FY ’12 Student Awareness of Fire Education or S.A.F.E. Program by the state Department of Fire Services.

Chief Cassidy said, “Our firefighters enjoy working closely with our school teachers to help youngsters learn what they can do to prevent fires, to survive those that do occur, and how to respond correctly to fires and other emergencies.”

The Governor and the Legislature fund the S.A.F.E. Program through the Executive Office of the Public Safety and Security and the program is administered by the state Department of Fire Services. Specially trained fire educators work with classroom teachers to deliver age-appropriate lessons on fire and life safety. The key fire and life safety behaviors 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.

Coan said, “This is the 17th year of the S.A.F.E. Program in Massachusetts and we are truly reaching our goal of raising a fire safe generation of children.” The average number of children who die in fires each year in Massachusetts has dropped by 66%, or two-thirds, since the program started compared to a similar time frame before it started. Coan added, “Since consistent comprehensive fire education is the one thing we are doing for children that we are not doing for every other age group, I think it’s fair to say we are proving that fire education works.”  Since the S.A.F.E. Program was initially funded, statewide there have been over two hundred and fifty documented Young Heroes -- children who put into practice the fire and life safety lessons they learned in the classroom during a real life emergency to save themselves or others.  Two of those documented Young Heroes were from Holliston.

For more information about the Student Awareness of Fire Education Program please call Chief Michael Cassidy at 508-429-4631 or go to www.mass.gov/dfs and type “SAFE” in the Search box.

Posted in Schools, Police/Fire.

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