STERLING — The Sterling fire department is taking a page from pandemic modifications and is now offering its home and fire safety program to homeschool elementary students.
“In these changing times, we recognize that the number of children being homeschooled has increased recently,” said Sterling firefighter Fil Santos, the in-house coordinator of the Student Awareness of Fire Education (S.A.F.E) program. “In efforts to provide the same education to all school age children, we are looking to gather a list of Sterling residents with homeschool students in kindergarten through fourth grade who are interested in participating in home and fire safety education.”
According to information posted by the SFD, S.A.F.E provides grants to fire departments to teach fire and life safety through two programs, one for elementary school students and one for senior citizens. The children’s program teaches students to recognize the dangers of fire, and is taught in developmentally appropriate ways. Since the S.A.F.E program began in 1996, youth fire fatalities have decreased significantly in the state. In 2021, Massachusetts marked 2 1/ 2 years without a child fire fatality, the longest period in the Common- wealth’s recorded history.
SFD visits Houghton Elementary School several times throughout each school year to teach students about home and fire safety, and this new effort will also give homeschooled children the opportunity to receive the same invaluable and potentially life-saving information. Santos, who has been assisting with the S.A.F.E. program at Houghton since starting his career as a firefighter in Sterling in 2014, said they are happy to provide this new community outreach service.
“During the peak time of the COVID pandemic, all children were being homeschooled, and we were not able to offer our S.A.F.E. program,” he said. “I knew changes were going to have to be made to our teaching format going forward. Once kids returned to school, I noticed many parents decided to keep homeschooling, and I wanted to offer the program so all children could benefit from this educational opportunity.”
By completion of the S.A.F.E. program in fourth grade, students will have learned what happens in a fire station, who a firefighter is, what is fire, how to stop fire, when to call 911, how fire detectors work, creating an escape plan, how fast fire spreads, and “how little things you do every day can help keep fires from happening,” Santos said.
“Teaching fire prevention is our best way of fighting fires before they start.”
Since posting the information on Sept. 6 on the SFD Facebook page and sharing it to the Sterling MA Community Page, Santos said they have received some emails and that several town residents to whom he has spoken have expressed interest.
“In these busy times, parents have a lot going on,” he said. “Testing and changing batteries in their smoke detectors is often overlooked or forgotten (for example). Teaching children the importance of fire safety is a fun way to get them excited to go home to share with their parents what they’ve learned and help with these important tasks, and it’s also a great refresher for the parents.”
If you are interested in or have any questions about the SFD homeschool fire safety program or its in-school program, email S.A.F.E Education Coordinator Fil Santos at fsantos@sterling-ma.gov.
