WESTFIELD—The Westfield Fire Department was one of over 200 departments that received state grant money for educational programming for both youth and seniors in the community.
The Westfield Fire Department received Student Awareness of Fire Safety Education (SAFE) and Senior SAFE grants from the state in order to provide fire and life safety education to youths and seniors. The Westfield Fire Department is one of 253 departments to receive the SAFE grant, and one of 238 that received the Senior SAFE grant.
The SAFE Program will be providing Westfield Fire with $5,407 in grant money, which the department will look to use to provide both in-class and on-hand learning of fire and life safety.
Westfield Fire Deputy Chief and Fire Prevention Officer Eric Bishop
“It’s a program I believe in, and the data supports that,” Deputy Chief Eric Bishop, of the Westfield Fire Department, said. “It’s an effective program and we’re lucky we have the educators dedicated to the program.”
According to information provided by the state’s Department of Fire Services (DFS), since the grant’s inception in the autumn of 1995, children’s deaths in fires in the state have dropped by 72 percent.
According to Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan, the city’s department has been a part of the program since it began and has seen its effectiveness.
“For Westfield, the biggest impact are the fires that never started because of the education in the schools,” Regan said.
Westfield Fire Chief Mary Regan
Regan added that this cannot be measured, though there was an impact on student recognition regarding fires and knowledge on what to do.
According to Bishop, the funds for the SAFE program in Westfield are typically geared toward students in grades kindergarten to fifth grade, with some focuses including fire hazards and tobacco products. The materials are also age-specific.
The students will typically be provided with a classroom portion of education, followed by a practical application of what they learned. This may even include the use of the “SAFE-funded fire safety house,” according to Bishop, which is set up like a small home where they can practice the skills.
Bishop said that the department will typically start the school’s fire education programs in March of a given year, working with schools on specific timing.
“We coordinate the fire education program with schools to not interfere with MCAS or other educational requirements,” he said.
The department has until the end of the year to utilize the funds, with the ability to be granted an extension. Bishop noted though, that the funds are typically exhausted by the end of the year.
Regarding the Senior SAFE grant, which is in its fourth year, the department will be receiving $2,813.
“In Westfield, that is a high-risk age group for us,” Regan said of those Senior SAFE targets.
“We want to make sure that group is safer,” she added.
Regan noted that 10 of the last fatalities due to fire in the city were in that age group. Regan said that it was important for the department to continue to provide a message of fire safety, as well as improve home safety, for seniors in the city.
The department typically uses the money in conjunction with the Westfield Senior Center, where Bishop said that Council on Aging Director Tina Gorman and he “will come up with a plan to figure the best way to serve seniors.”
Previous programs have included purchasing and installing house numbers to help first responders find homes, smoke detectors and, most recently, lockboxes for homes that hold keys so first responders can gain access to residences.
Like the SAFE grant, the department will have until the end of the year to utilize it, with the ability to extend its use.
