Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE)

The SAFE grant program provides resources for fire departments to teach fire safety education in schools.

FY26 SAFE & Senior SAFE Grant

The application period for the FY26 SAFE & Senior SAFE grant application period opened on February 5, 2026, and will close on March 5, 2026 at 5:00 pm. This grant opportunity is available to fire departments across the Commonwealth to provide fire and life safety education to school-aged children (SAFE) and senior citizens (Senior SAFE).

Please download and save the FY26 SAFE & Senior SAFE Grant documents which can be found here:

FY26 Notice of Funding Opportunity

FY26 SAFE & Senior SAFE Grant Application

Milestone	Date
Application Period Open	February 5, 2026
Question Submission Deadline	February 26, 2026
Application Submission Deadline	March 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM
Award Announcements	Week of March 30, 2026 (estimated)
End of Grant Performance Period	August 31, 2026
End of Year Report Deadline	September 30, 2026
Unexpended funds Due	Within 30 calendar days of notification request from DFS

Five (5) webinars will be held on Microsoft Teams at the scheduled times below during the application period. These sessions will provide valuable guidance on all relevant grant requirements from application to close out – including how to apply, sign contract documents, utilize grant funds in compliance with program terms and conditions, submit end-of-year reports, and provide an opportunity for questions and answers.

While attendance is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended that either the Fire Chief, designated Primary and/or Secondary SAFE Educator, and/or Grant Manager participate to ensure a clear understanding of the grant process. Applications in which one of these individuals has completed the webinar will receive 20 points. Participation must be via a computer or tablet with sound. No call-in option will be provided. 

Date	Time	How to Access
February 6, 2026	1:00pm – 2:30pm	Webinar Access Link Click Here Enter meeting ID and/or passcode as prompted: Meeting ID: 257 850 074 000 Passcode: TUtQ4G
February 12, 2026	10:00am – 11:30am
February 18, 2026	1:00pm – 2:30pm
February 24, 2026	6:00pm – 7:30pm
March 2, 2026	10:00am – 11:30am

Please contact Sheryl Hedlund at [e-mail] with any questions. 

The Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) program provides grants to local fire departments to teach fire and life safety to children in schools. The program teaches students to recognize the dangers of fire and the fire hazards of tobacco products through 23 key fire safety behaviors taught in developmentally appropriate ways. Fire and life safety is easy to combine with math, science, language arts and health or physical education lessons, making it easy to collaborate with school teachers. Since the SAFE program began in 1996, child fire deaths have dropped significantly in Massachusetts.  In 2021, Massachusetts marked two and a half years without a child fire fatality, the longest period in the Commonwealth's recorded history.

SAFE is one of two fire and life safety education grant programs available to Massachusetts fire departments. The second program is Senior SAFE, which aims to reduce older adult fire deaths through fire and life safety education.

What is SAFE? is a short pamphlet that describes the program for parents and care providers. 

Read the SAFE and Senior Safe mission statements here.

SAFE Teaching Tools

We have a guide to all the tools you need to teaching S.A.F.E. and Senior SAFE and to running your grant program. The Guide includes:

• Curriculum Planning Guidebook
• SAFE Student Evaluation Tools
• SAFE Teacher Evaluations
• Preschool Teaching Resouces
• Elementary Teaching Resources
• Middle School Teaching Resources
• High School Teaching Resources
• Older Adult Teaching Resources

Fire Safety Houses

SAFE provides one fire safety house for each of the 15 fire mobilization districts in Massachusetts. Fire safety houses are mobile educational tools for teaching fire prevention. Educators use the house to show specific fire safety behaviors. Children then use the house to practice the behaviors. For example, children can practice escaping from a bedroom window through “pretend” smoke. The fun exercises in a fire safety house can prepare children to react safely in an emergency.

To use a fire safety house, contact the fire department for your region:

District	Department	Towns Served
District 1	Falmouth Fire Rescue [phone]	Barnstable (Barnstable, West Barnstable, Hyannis, Centerville/Osterville/Marston Mills, Cotuit), Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Gay Head, Gosnold, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Otis A.F.B., Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury, and Yarmouth
District 2	Hanson Fire Department [phone]	Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover, Hanson, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Marion, Marshfield, Mattapoisett, Middleboro, Norwell, Onset, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Rochester, Rockland, Scituate, Wareham, West Bridgewater, and Whitman
District 3	Fall River Fire Department [phone]	Acushnet, Attleboro, Berkley, Dartmouth (Districts #1, 2 & 3), Dighton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, and Westport
District 4	Mansfield Fire Department [phone]	Avon, Bellingham, Canton, Dover, Easton, Foxborough, Franklin, Holbrook, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Norwood, Randolph, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole, Westwood, and Wrentham
District 5	Danvers Fire Department [phone]	Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Hamilton, Ipswich, Lynnfield, Manchester, Marblehead, Middleton, Nahant, Peabody, Rockport, Salem, Swampscott, Topsfield, and Wenham
District 6	Lowell Fire Department [phone]	Andover, Ayer, Bedford, Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Lowell, North Reading, Pepperell, Shirley, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford, and Wilmington
District 7	Leicester Fire Department [phone]	Auburn, Blackstone, Brookfield, Charlton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, Millbury, Millville, Northbridge, North Brookfield, Oxford, Southbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Warren, Webster, West Brookfield, and Worcester
District 8	Fitchburg Fire Department [phone]	Ashburnham, Ashby, Barre, Berlin, Bolton, Boylston, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Hardwick, Harvard, Holden, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leominster, Lunenburg, New Braintree, Oakham, Paxton, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Royalston, Rutland, Sterling, Templeton, Townsend, West Boylston, Westminster, and Winchendon
District 9	Whately Fire Department [phone]	Ashfield, Athol, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Erving, Leverett, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately
District 10	Goshen Fire Department [phone]	Amherst, Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Granby, Hadley, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Northampton, Pelham, Plainfield, Southampton, South Hadley, Ware, Williamsburg, Westhampton, and Worthington
District 11	Three Rivers Fire Department [phone]	Agawam, Blandford, Brimfield, Chester, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Granville, Hampden, Holland, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Montgomery, Palmer, Southwick, Springfield, Three Rivers, Tolland, Wales, Westfield, West Springfield, and Wilbraham
District 12	Lanesboro Fire Department [phone]	Adams, Alford, Becket, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Dalton, Egremont, Florida, Great Barrington, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesboro, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Otis, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield, Stockbridge, Savoy, Sheffield, Tyringham, Washington, West Stockbridge, Williamstown, and Windsor
District 13	Reading Fire Department [phone]	Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Dedham, Everett, Lexington, Lynn, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Needham, Newton, Quincy, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston, Weymouth, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn, and Massport
District 14	Acton Fire Department [phone]	Acton, Ashland, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Framingham, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlborough, Maynard, Milford, Natick, Northborough, Sherborn, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Wayland, and Westborough
District 15	Amesbury Fire Department [phone]	Amesbury, Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimac, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury, and West Newbury