Coors Banquet has announced a donation of $250,000 to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation through its Protect Our Protectors initiative. The company also made donations to other firefighter charities across the country.

This is Coors’ ninth consecutive year supporting America’s firefighters through the initiative, with more than $2 million being donated to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation it was founded.

In recent years, there has been an overwhelming increase in devastating and destructive wildfires across North America. The toll from wildfires has caused a considerable staffing shortage among wildland firefighters, hotshot crews and elite teams. This spring, the U.S. Forest Service even reported staffing levels as low as 66%.

While Canada continues to experience an ongoing, record-setting series of wildfires that are impacting air quality across America, it is more important than ever to support firefighters.

Every purchase of Coors Banquet helps support the brand’s donation to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

“It’s incredibly important to support firefighters, the brave few who run towards the fire,” said Marcelo Pascoa, vice president of marketing for the Coors Family of Brands. “As a brand that’s committed to doing what’s right, even when it’s hard, Coors Banquet supports those who personify this principle and do so much to protect our people and our land.”

Protect Our Protectors will be visible across many of the brand’s marketing channels this year, from media partnerships to local events and celebrity integrations. Coors Banquet has announced a noteworthy media partnership with the hit show Hot Ones. Upcoming content from the Complex series, which features A-list celebrities being interviewed while eating hot wings, will shine a light on this important cause starting Sept. 14.

Coors Banquet customer Chase Rice is also joining the Protect Our Protectors initiative for the second year, having spent a day training and working with firefighters in Idaho last summer.

“People would be surprised at just how quick these fires take hold,” Rice said of the experience. “I always thought, if there’s a fire, just go in a different direction or find a different part of the woods, but the reality is the fires take hold so quickly, and it gets so dangerous in just minutes. They can take out an entire mountain range or national park.”

As part of the 2023 initiative, Rice will bring Protect Our Protectors to music devotees across the nation while touring, also engaging with firefighters in areas near his upcoming concerts and making visits to fire stations.

“The Wildland Firefighter Foundation is honored to receive abundant support from Coors Banquet. It’s amazing for wildland firefighters to see the recognition and awareness this program creates, and the true difference it makes in ensuring our firefighters have supplies, physical and mental health support and more,” said Burk Minor, executive director of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. “Thanks to our relationship with Coors Banquet, the WFF is able to provide even stronger support for firefighters and their families.”

The Molson Coors Beverage Co. includes brands such as Coors Light, Miller Lite, Molson Trademark, Carling, Staropramen Coors Banquet, Blue Moon Belgian White, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, Vizzy Hard Seltzer, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Simply Spiked Lemonade, Creemore Springs and more.