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City of Dewey

Posted: Aug 11, 2020 2:33 PMUpdated: Aug 11, 2020 4:34 PM

Anheuser-Busch Supplies Dewey Fire with Water

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Garrett Giles

Anheuser-Busch supplied a local volunteer fire department with a pallet of drinking water last Friday.

Cody Meade, the Assistant Fire Chief for the Dewey Fire Department, said they are extremely grateful for the water. He said the blessing behind the water is that it will be used to help hydrate firefighters that serve alongside Dewey Fire from other agencies.

Fire departments in the area are always handing out water to each other when they respond to a call together. Meade said guys from Bartlesville Fire, Copan Fire, Wann Fire, and the Washington County Fire Department will benefit from the water Anheuser-Busch supplied to Dewey Fire. He said they have enough water at this time to provide to any agency that might need a case or two.

Water is a blessing. For example, Meade said Dewey Fire hosted an eight-week Firefighter One Academy with OSU during the hottest days of the summer. He said the 25 to 26 guys that were training to be firefighters needed water. And let's not fail to mention that the instructors could've also used a bottle of water themselves. All that just to say that they went through water quickly.

The pallet the Dewey Fire Department received from Anheuser-Busch contains 98 cases of water. That adds up to 1,960 pounds.

Meade said Busch retools one of their production plants each year to make purified water for firefighters and agencies responding to wildfires. To be eligible for the program, Meade said a volunteer fire department had to be committed to responding to and fighting wildfires in an upcoming year. This same commitment had to be proven in a year prior to receiving the water supply.

An application for the water was submitted by Meade to Anheuser-Busch in 2019. When Meade didn't hear from Busch about the application, he wrote them a letter and attached pictures that told Dewey Fire's story. Busch finally replied, saying they liked Dewey Fire's story and wanted to assist them with their effort by supplying them with water. Meade said it feels like a lot of the work that they are doing is finally paying off.

Dewey Fire Chief Jacob Cox took the delivery on Friday. In 2019, Anheuser-Busch supplied over 1.6 million cans of water to approximately 300 fire stations throughout the United States through their partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council.

Community partners were also thanked for their assistance on this front. Meade said the Dewey Dollar General store has been kind to Dewey Fire, donating Gatorade and water to the station. He said private citizens also call saying they want to donate water. Sometimes Dewey Fire will show up to work and they will find water waiting for them at the front door that was donated anonymously.

Photo courtesy: Cody Meade and Chief Jacob Cox


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