S.A.F.E. The name says it all.
The Student Awareness of Fire Education program under the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security is designed to help local fire departments pay for fire safety education programs for children in grades K-12.
The program works to educate students about all the dangers of fire, including the fire hazards associated with using tobacco products.
Thanks to the latest round of grants, 35 Western Massachusetts fire departments will be better able to continue and initiate programs.
All of the teaching is school-based and provides age-appropriate information on preventing and surviving fires.
The amounts of the grants range from $11,365 for Springfield to $3,765 for many smaller communities like Whately, New Salem and Hatfield. West Springfield has been awarded $5,265 and Holyoke $6,365.
West Springfield Fire Chief William M. Flaherty said the money will be used to continue work Firefighter Brina L. Fondi does with students in Grades K through 5. She speaks to students in the fall, in December and in the spring.
“She talks about different topics each time,” Flaherty said.
Among the many topics she addresses are smoke detectors, how to exit a home during a fire, how to set up a meeting place where family members can rendezvous in the event of a fire, cooking safety, the use of extension cords and Christmas tree safety.
Maria V. Pelchar, the Holyoke Fire Department fire and life safety educator, said the grants are crucial to the department’s fire safety program.
“If I didn’t have the grants I would have to beg, borrow and steal,” Pelchar said.
She works with students in preschool through Grade 8. The grant money pays for such supplies as coloring and activity books, fire helmets, stickers and pencils.
“We reach over 6,000 children in Holyoke,” Pelchar said.
Ware Fire Chief Thomas W. Coulombe said his department, which has been granted $4,665, has extensive and intensive fire education programs.
“We will go to some classrooms up to five times, and we make sure to get to every classroom at least once,” he said.
Classroom sessions focus on a synopsis of what to do in case of a fire and how to prevent blazes. For third- and second-graders, the program is capped by a visit from a S.A.F.E. demonstration trailer that mimics a house fire so children can learn now to escape to safety.
Firefighters also do programs at the Ware Senior Center, as well as make appearances at school open houses and at community events. Coulombe said his department has gotten a grant every year they have been available since the program began in 1996.
“It’s great. It allows us to have a better presence in the community,” Coulombe said of the program.
Firefighters are also enthusiastic about the programs, another reason Coulombe said he continues to seek a grant every year.
“Although we are facing a challenging fiscal climate, programs like the S.A.F.E. program are essential,” said state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre. “I applaud the communities who applied for this funding.”
Municipalities and fire districts can apply for S.A.F.E. funding. If a fire department or fire district had S.A.F.E. program funding in any fiscal year from 2006 to 2010 it may apply for a grant. Other departments and districts may seek planning grants as a first step.