By Gayla Cawley
Boston Herald
BOSTON — Two Boston city councilors are questioning the Wu administration’s priorities after the Fire Prevention Unit disclosed that it can no longer distribute plastic hats to children at firehouses due to budget cuts.
The Boston Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Education Unit, which educates K-12 students about fire safety and hosts kid-friendly events like touch-a-truck, disclosed by email that it will not be distributing fire hats “at this time.”
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“Due to current budget limitations, the Fire Prevention Education Unit will not be issuing fire hats to fire houses at this time,” Boston Fire Lt. Henry Perkins wrote in an internal email obtained by the Herald. “I will keep you informed as soon as there are updates or changes.”
Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy criticized the city for cutting funding for the initiative, which they said provides plastic fire hats for kids.
“How did we get here?” Murphy said Tuesday in a statement to the Herald. “We are now being told we can’t afford something as simple as plastic fire hats for kids through the fire department’s education unit. These are simple, low-cost items.
“Just months ago, we were advancing hundreds of millions in funding across the city, supporting youth jobs, senior programming, homeownership, and small businesses. Now we are seeing cuts to those same programs, and departments facing spending restrictions so tight they can’t afford even the most basic items.
“That’s a dramatic shift in a very short time, and it raises serious questions about how we got here,” Murphy added.
The cuts come at a time when Boston is facing a combined budget deficit of more than $100 million between the city and Boston Public Schools for fiscal year 2026, and Mayor Michelle Wu is pitching a $4.9 billion budget for FY27 with a 2.1% overall increase, the lowest rate of growth since the Great Recession in FY10.
All city department heads were directed by the Wu administration to submit budgets with a 2% cut for FY27.
Murphy and Flynn, who are seen as critics of the mayor, have questioned the Wu administration’s spending priorities in recent weeks and saw their push for an audit of city and school department finances killed this month by the City Council.
The audit push came after community leaders had to step up and buy baseball hats for a South Boston high school varsity team last month due to a budget crunch at the Boston Public Schools. Without the community intervention, the baseball team at Excel High School would have been without hats for its opening day game.
Flynn has been pushing for the city to tighten spending in other areas, but said Tuesday that the fire prevention education unit was not the place to cut from.
“Fire prevention education is not a program that should be cut from the city budget,” Flynn said in a statement to the Herald. “I have seen firsthand how this critical outreach to Boston residents teaches people how to recognize hazards, practice safety and respond to emergencies. Let’s not put residents at risk by cutting public safety outreach programs.”
Mayor Wu’s office, the Boston Fire Department and its Fire Prevention Education Unit did not immediately respond to the Herald’s requests for comment on the programming cut and how long it would be in effect.
What’s something small, like plastic fire hats, that you’ve seen make a big impact on fire prevention or community trust in your department, and how would cuts like this affect your outreach?
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