Safety First newsletter
| Current issue: Sept. 1, 2026 | Subscribe to Safety First today |
State Fire Marshal: A different way to connect — new partnership strengthens Minnesota’s youth firesetting prevention efforts
Sometimes, helping a child through a difficult moment starts with something surprisingly simple: a backpack filled with tools.
For Minnesota’s Youth Firesetting Prevention and Intervention program, a new partnership is getting sensory and communication kits into the hands of professionals who work with young people involved in fire-related incidents.
When one of our State Fire Marshal (SFM) investigators heard that Bit of Grace donates these kits to local first responders, he proposed to SFM’s public education team that they use them to help those working with children suspected of starting fires.
Read our Safety Matters blog to learn how SFM uses the tools.
HSEM: Emergency managers in Minnesota — keeping our communities prepared and safe
Throughout Minnesota, emergency managers work behind the scenes to ensure communities are prepared for disasters of all kinds. Their work takes many forms, from planning for festivals and large-scale events to preparing hospitals, protecting thousands of students and responding to severe weather in Tribal Nations.
While the settings are often varied, the mission is always the same: Be prepared for anything that could happen to a community, coordinate people and resources should a disaster occur, and help communities rebuild afterward.
Learn more about the work emergency managers do in our Safety Matters blog.
Commissioner’s Corner: Safety tips for your teen driver
With the new school year right around the corner, teens will be driving to and from school, after-school commitments and weekend activities.
If you have a teen driver, you can help keep them safe:
- Provide supervised driving experience.
- Train them in different road conditions.
- Talk with them to reinforce teen driver laws.
Find more tips and learn more about the law from our Office of Traffic Safety.
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Come see us at the Minnesota State Fair!
We’ll be in the Education Building every day ready to share about the work we do to support Minnesotans. Learn about staying safe on the road, preparing for emergencies, preventing fires, calling 911, supporting crime victims and more.
You can also renew your tabs at a Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) kiosk, hear the benefits of signing up for MyDVS, and get your license and ID questions answered.
Stop to see us while you’re enjoying the Fair — we cannot wait to meet you!
About the newsletter
We are here to keep people safe and improve the lives of those who live, work and play in Minnesota.
Part of that is making sure you have all the information you need to make safe decisions for your loved ones.
Safety First brings that information to you every other week along with updates on what we are doing to serve you, the people of Minnesota.