Latir Volunteer Fire Department Receives Canned Drinking Water from Anheuser-Busch to Support Wildfire Response Efforts:
Water donated through a partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council
Latir Volunteer Fire Department recently received a donation of canned emergency drinking water from leading brewer, Anheuser-Busch, to help provide critical hydration to its responders during this year’s wildfire season. On May 11th, Premier Distributing Company, a local Anheuser-Busch wholesaler partner, dropped off an entire pallet (98 cases) to help support the wildfire response needs of several Taos County volunteer fire departments. Maintaining firefighters’ hydration during long incidents or disasters such as wildfires is a major safety concern for many departments.
Latir Volunteer Fire Department is one of 13 rural, all-volunteer departments in Taos County NM. The northern part of the state, like much of the SW U. S. is experiencing extreme drought conditions and volunteer firefighters respond frequently to wildfires. As of this writing the largest wildfire in the U. S. is burning just on the other side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains east of the Latir Fire District. All county departments are responding quickly to new starts, so a large fire does not erupt on the west side of the mountain range.
“Our firefighters lose a tremendous amount of fluid during high-intensity response such as battling wildfires. Proper hydration is critical to ensure the safety of our firefighters and to keep them performing at their best,” said jona olsson, Chief of Latir VFD. “Thanks to this water donation from Anheuser-Busch and the National Volunteer Fire Council, we have the resources to keep firefighters in our volunteer departments hydrated and ready to respond.”
The water was donated by Anheuser-Busch through a partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). Anheuser-Busch has a longstanding tradition of providing emergency drinking water and supplies for disaster relief efforts. The company periodically pauses beer production each year to apply its production and logistics expertise to can clean, safe drinking water that is ready to distribute when disaster strikes. Since 1988, the brewer has donated more than 90 million cans of emergency drinking water to communities impacted by natural disasters and other crises.
Building on this commitment, the brewer teamed up with the NVFC – the leading nonprofit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, emergency medical, and rescue services – in 2019 to provide emergency drinking water to help firefighters stay hydrated and healthy when responding to wildfires and large incidents. To date, the program has donated nearly 4.9 million cans of water to volunteer firefighters across the country.
Learn more about the program at www.nvfc.org/water
For more information contact:
jona olsson, Latir Vol FD, Fire & EMS Chief
Phone: 575.586.2488
Email: latirfirejona@taosnet.com
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