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Recently, the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Illinois American Water Firefighter Grant Program.

This grant that was awarded is for the purpose of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District to purchase "The Safety Challenge" fire prevention program.

This program will be utilized at local school districts to make sure every home will have working smoke detectors and alarms because of the grant.

"It's a grade school fitness program where they put the kids through simulated circumstances," said Fire Chief Keith Krestan. "Fire safety, incorporated fitness and pulling a hose are just some of the parts of the program."

The Illinois American Water Firefighter Grant Program awards certain types of grants to provide personal protective gear, communications equipment, firefighting tools, water handling equipment training materials and classroom programs.

This program is the single handedly the largest investor-owned water utility in the state of Illinois, and they provide reliable water and/or waste water services to approximately 1.3 million people.

The grant winners along with Lisle-Woodridge were announced simultaneously with National Fire Prevention Week that was from Oct. 6 through the 12th to raise awareness of the importance of fire prevention safety and overall awareness.

"It's really a challenge to get in schools these days because of the curriculum and the timing with teachers," Krestan said. "This is a way of trying to combine fitness and fire safety education."

In 2020, more than $88,000 is going to be shared by 90 Illinois fire departments through the grant program, helping the awareness spread.

The program has now been in works for 10 years, with more than 590 grants totaling $582,000 that have been awarded to different departments.

In order to receive the grant, the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District had to submit a grant application program that outlines the outcomes that they are hoping for of the program.

"We were very excited and very grateful to receive this grant that will help many people and help save many people's lives," Krestan said. "To be able to fund a program to help educate children in fire safety it makes us feel good that other agencies care and understand that there are budget challenges and unique opportunities where money can become a challenge, so this kind off eliminates that."