Sen. Gomez Anounces SAFE, Senior SAFE Grants for Hampden District

BOSTON — State Sen. Adam Gomez recently joined Gov. Maura Healey and Secretary of Public Safety Terrence Reidy in announcing FY 2024 grants funds for the Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) and Senior SAFE programs for the cities of Chicopee and Springfield. The SAFE and Senior SAFE grant programs promote fire and life safety education for children and older adults, who are most vulnerable to burns, injury, and death stemming from fires and related hazards.

“The continued funding of fire and life safety education for some of the most vulnerable to fire-related tragedies, school-age children and older adults, has led to a safer Commonwealth,” Gomez said. “I am thankful to Secretary Reidy and the Healey-Driscoll administration for these life-saving investments in the Hampden district.”

Since 1995, the Department of Fire Services’ SAFE grant program has supported firefighter educators who deliver age-appropriate fire-safety education to kids and teens across Massachusetts. The SAFE grants have correlated with a decline of about 80% in Massachusetts child fire fatalities and the longest period without a child fire death in the history of the Commonwealth.

Today, it is seniors who face the most disproportionate risk of dying in a fire. The Senior SAFE program was launched in FY 2014 to provide them with the tools and knowledge to live safely.