About Public Education

Public Education
 

Technical assistance is provided to local fire departments, health educators, medical and public health professionals, classroom teachers, elder service providers, community and service organizations and others interested in life safety education.

 

Services provided include:

• Information on a variety of fire safety topics and friendly 1-2 page FireFactorsfor the public and fire educators to download and reproduce.
• Public Education Hotline - 1-877-9 NO FIRE (1-877-966-3473) call to easily obtain free fire safety information and have questions answered by trained public educators.
•  Resources for fire educators including print materials, films and other teaching tools (Sparky, junior fire gear, Hazard Houses) for loan, the Curriculum Planning Guidebook, the Resource Library, regional Fire Safety Houses, information on fire and life safety curricula, working with schools, information on hot topics, smoke alarms programs, and more.
• The Mass. Public Fire and Life Safety Education Task Force helps DFS plan and put on a Fire and Life Safety Public Education Conference each year. 2009 will be the 15 th
• . - The goal of The Student Awareness of Fire Education, or S.A.F.E. Program started in 1995, is to raise a fire safe generation of children by working with schools to provide consistent, statewide fire education to students from kindergarten to high school. The program allocates grants to local fire departments to put specially trained firefighters in the classroom to teach fire safety.
• The average number of child fire deaths in Massachusetts has dropped nearly 60% in first thirteen years of S.A.F.E proving public fire education works.
  
• In the first 14 years of the S.A.F.E. Program, over 230 children have been honored as Young Heroes . These children have used the lessons they learned in school through the S.A.F.E. Program in real life emergencies. We call these youngsters who remained calm in a difficult situation, our "YOUNG HEROES". Many families claim they are alive today because their youngsters "made" them install smoke alarms and practice a home escape plan, or reported an emergency, or persuaded a grandmother to 'stop, drop, and roll'.
  
• DFS sponsors fire safety events throughout the Commonwealth such as the annual Open House and Family Fire Safety Day at the Dept. of Fire Services in Stow Mass .

Contact the Public Education Unit by phone or email:

Telephone Numbers: