As wildfire season approaches, Anheuser-Busch is preparing volunteer firefighter departments across the United States by shipping out crates of drinking water free of charge.

Anheuser-Busch has been supplying drinking water to wildfire firefighters for over 30 years, but this year they plan to expand the program by donating one million cans of drinking water to volunteer fire departments.

The company, in partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), will begin their deliveries this week, shipping out roughly 300,000 cans of clean drinking water to 26 different volunteer fire departments.

“Eighty-three percent of the nation’s fire departments, which protect our communities from hazards of all kinds, are all- or mostly-volunteer,” said Steve Hirsch, Chair of the NVFC in an interview with FirefighterNation.com. “Funding for needed resources is a constant challenge for many of these departments, making this donation even more important as it directly supports the health and safety of our firefighters and the communities they serve.”

The first departments to receive water were identified by the NVFC and Anheuser-Busch as the most in need of reinforcements.

“As the country faces more natural disasters, like wildfires, preparation plays a major role in ensuring fire departments across the country have the resources they need to protect their friends and neighbors,” said Adam Warrington, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Anheuser-Busch in an interview with FirefighterNation.com. “In the same way we have utilized our production strengths to can water throughout the year to support our communities at a moment’s notice, these water donations – in advance of wildfire season – will provide critical hydration to help our nation’s volunteer firefighters stand ready for our communities in times of need.”

For those fire departments that were not listed on the initial round of deliveries, Anheuser-Busch has set up a request system where departments can ask for water deliveries via the NVFC to hydrate their crews as they work to fight wildfires. Additional information will be available at www.nvfc.org/water.

The fire departments on the list for the first round of deliveries are:

●        Arizona: Pine Rural Fire & Medical District (Mammoth, AZ)

●        Arizona: Hayden Volunteer Fire Department (Hayden, AZ)

●        California: Mi Wuk Sugar Pine Fire Protection District (Twain Harte, CA)

●        California: Suisun City Firefighters Association Inc.(Suisun City, CA)

●        California: Graton Fire Department (Sebastopol, CA)

●        California: Geyserville Volunteer Firefighters Association (Geyserville, CA)

●        Colorado: Southwest Washington County Fire Protection District (Anton, CA)

●        Colorado: Brush Volunteer Fire Department (Brush, CO)

●        Colorado: Hillrose Snyder Volunteer Fire Department (Hillrose, CO)

●        Idaho: Donnelly Rural Fire Protection District (Donnelly, ID)

●        Iowa: Harlan Fire Department (Harlan, IA)

●        Kansas: Girard Fire Department (Girard, KS)

●        Kansas: Linn County Rural Fire Department (Pleasanton, KS)

●        Massachusetts: Carver Fire Department (Carver, MA)

●        Montana: South Kalispell Volunteer Fire Department (Kaispell, MT)

●        Nebraska: Chadron Volunteer Fire Department (Chadron, NE)

●        Nevada: Lovelock Volunteer Fire Department (Lovelock, NV)

●        New Hampshire: Brookline Fire Department (Brookline, NH)

●        Oklahoma: Darwin Volunteer Fire Department (Antlers, OK)

●        Oklahoma: Konawa Volunteer Fire Department (Konawa, OK)

●        Oregon: Ontario Fire & Rescue (Ontario, OR)

●        South Dakota: Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department (Rapid City, SD)

●        Texas: Hallsville Volunteer Fire Department (Hallsville, TX)

●        Texas: Edinburg Fire Department (Edinburg, TX)

●        Washington: Grant County Fire District 3 (Quincy, WA)

●        Wyoming: Goose Valley Fire Department (Sheridan, WY)

Since 1988, Anheuser-Busch has made a point to halt production of beer in order to deliver cans of water to volunteer firefighters around the country as well as ship out water in times of natural disasters. So far, they have delivered 80 million cans of clean drinking water to communities across the U.S. affected by natural disasters.