Dartmouth Fire District 1 has been awarded a $2,500 grant for this year’s Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) Program, according to State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey and District 1 Fire Chief Peter Andrade.

The SAFE Program provides $1.2 million to local fire departments through the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to raise student awareness of fire safety. It brings specially trained fire educators to schools to work with classroom teachers and deliver age-appropriate lessons on fire and life safety.

Chief Andrade 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.”

This year’s SAFE Program will also include fire prevention training for seniors, who are the age group most at risk of dying in a fire, according to Chief Andrade. 

“This program educates seniors on fire prevention, general home safety and how to be better prepared in the event of a fire,” said Chief Andrade. “ We are partnering with Dartmouth Council on Aging and Dartmouth Fire District 3 to provide fire safety information, install smoke alarms, house numbers and conduct in-home fire safety checks.”

The Senior SAFE Program provides $600,000 in grant funds from fees paid by tobacco companies to the state’s Fire Standard Compliant Cigarette Program, which ensures fire safety for tobacco products.

Ostroskey said, “This is the 25th 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 76 percent since the program started compared to a similar timeframe before it started. Ostroskey 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 fire education works.” He added, “We hope to have the same success with the Senior SAFE Program in reducing deaths and injuries to older adults.”

For more information about the SAFE or Senior SAFE Programs, call your local fire district or visit mass.gov/dfs and type “SAFE” in the “search this organization” box.