Successful night for Providence Firefighters’ “Safe Night” program

January 1, 2015 9:10 am

By Rebecca Turco

It was a busy New Year’s Eve in Providence for folks out and about taking advantage of Providence’s bars and restaurants.

The city’s firefighters were also busy with their first-year program called “Safe Night”, reporting they gave about 60 rides home Wednesday night all the way through 5 a.m.

“We have a lot of nightclubs, a lot of bars, a lot of people coming in for the New Years. So it was important to us that we give them an option for residents of the city of Providence an option to get home safely.”

Any Providence resident who needed a ride home from their New Year’s party just had to call the hotline and an off-duty firefighter picked them up and brought them home.

“New Year’s can be a crazy night and hopefully no one gets injured and we get to help somebody out.”

12 firefighters volunteered.

“I’ve been coming to Providence for New Years Eve for this is like my fourth or fifth year now and other than taxis and now Uber this is a great other reliable source.”

Firefighters say that the free rides are a big help for them too, because the more people they can stop from driving drunk, the better the chances the won’t have to go out on a tragic call.

“If everybody can get home safely, that’ll be a good New Year’s.”