Student Awareness of Fire Education
Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) is a grant program to local fire departments that puts trained firefighter-educators in classrooms to conduct fire safety education in grades Pre-K through 12. The primary mission of SAFE is to enable students to recognize the dangers of fire and the fire hazards of tobacco products. SAFE trains firefighters to deliver age-appropriate fire and life safety lessons in close coordination with classroom teachers and health educators.
The Bridgewater Fire Department has a very active SAFE program. We partner with the Bridgewater-Raynham School District to offer fire education to students of all ages. We provide an age-specific curriculum, including hands-on demonstrations so that students of all ages can learn the importance of fire safety.
Our SAFE educators are very active in the community and demonstrate fire safety through the use of our SAFE trailer at fire safety and community events throughout the year.
FF/Paramedic Billy Lieb, blieb@bridgewaterma.org
Director, SAFE Program
Senior SAFE
In Massachusetts, adults aged 65 and older are two times more likely to die in fires than any other age group. In FY2014, the Senior SAFE grant program was created to address fire safety for older adults.
Senior SAFE educators provide: firsthand knowledge of the dangers associated with fire; age appropriate information on preventing and surviving fires; and education that affects changes in older adult behavior. Senior SAFE is designed to create partnerships between older adults and fire departments through established providers of senior support services such as councils on aging, senior centers, visiting nurse associations and other similar agencies.
To this end, the Bridgewater Fire Department developed its senior outreach program Bridgewater Seniors First. This program is a partnership between the Bridgewater Fire Department and the Bridgewater Office of Elder Affairs. The program provides free, confidential home safety visits to senior members of the Bridgewater community. We come by invitation only, and together we review safety measures you have in place and discuss any additional measures we can put in place to further preserve safety. We discuss fire prevention and life safety in the privacy and convenience of their home while providing dignity and independence. The goal of our program is to keep seniors safe and to keep their home the sanctuary they expect it to be.
Firefighter Chris Hamilton, chamilton@bridgewaterma.org
Director, Senior SAFE Program / Bridgewater Seniors First