BOSTON - State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D- Pittsfield) announces today that the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security and the Department of Fire Services have awarded $14,748 in Student Awareness of Fire Education (S.A.F.E.) program grant funds to nine communities throughout his Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin Senate District.
“S.A.F.E. programming ensures our students are alert and aware in situations involving fire,” said Downing. “I am pleased the public safety agencies were able to continue proven fire education programs like S.A.F.E. and maintain ties between local schools and fire departments during these difficult economic times.”
The S.A.F.E. program was established in Fiscal Year 1996 to educate students about the fire and health hazards of smoking-related materials. The S.A.F.E. program is school-based, however funds can be used to implement community fire and life safety education programs outside of school buildings. S.A.F.E. is implemented by firefighters who have special training in teaching fire and life safety.
S.A.F.E. educators serve as role models for impressionable youth while providing students with firsthand knowledge of the dangers associated with fire, age-appropriate information on preventing and surviving those fires that occur, and through a core school-based program, to effect a change in the behavior and the safety of the community at large. The S.A.F.E. Program is designed to create a partnership between the school and fire departments.
Local Fiscal Year 2010 S.A.F.E. Grant Recipients include:
|
Community
|
Award Amount
|
|
Ashfield
|
$1,492
|
|
Cheshire
|
$1,492
|
|
Chesterfield
|
$1,492
|
|
Cummington
|
$1,492
|
|
Goshen
|
$1,492
|
|
Lanesborough
|
$1,492
|
|
North Adams
|
$1,912
|
|
Pittsfield
|
$2,992
|
|
Westhampton
|
$892
|
|
Total:
|
$14,748
|
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