HALIFAX — The Halifax Fire Department was recently awarded a $3,500 Child Passenger Safety Seat Distribution grant from the Baker-Polito administration for free child car and booster seats for those in need and to replace car seats that have been damaged in motor vehicle accidents at no cost to the owner, stated Halifax Fire Chief Jason Viveiros in a Dec. 10 letter to the Board of Selectmen. The department is also offering free car seat inspections or installations by calling 781-293-1751 for an appointment, according to the announcement.
The chief, himself a fruitful grant-writer, commended Firefighter/Paramedic Peter Hogan for his work in obtaining the grant.
In 2017, the chief said, Hogan recognized the need for a certified car seat installation technician in Halifax, after seeing many situations where children were not secured properly or were in seats that were not safe.
He attended a 40-hour child passenger safety technician (CPST) certification course and the department began offering the service.
The grant, for fiscal year 2019, is from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Office of Grants and Research-Highway Safety Division (EOPSS/OGR/HSD). The Governor and Lieutenant Governor said they were pleased to support the department’s traffic safety efforts in a Nov. 29 letter to the chief.
“We thank you for the work you do to keep children safe on our roads,” they wrote.