Mattapoisett was awarded $4,665 from the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, under its Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) grant program. The grant gives money to fire departments to teach fire prevention and safety to young people across the state. Since the SAFE program’s inception in 1995, the average annual number of fire deaths of children under 18 has fallen by 66 percent, according to the program’s website. From 1996-2011, the average number of child fire deaths per year was six, and in the 14 years prior to the program’s inception, it was 18, according to the website. - Paul Kandarian