Hot Deal: PETA Will Feed Firefighters for a Week—If They Go Vegan

For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

With a $2 million upgrade—including a brand-new kitchen—now approved for Eau Claire Fire Department, Station 6, PETA sent a letter this morning to Fire Chief Christian Bell with a hot offer. If the entire Eau Claire Fire Department goes vegan for a week, PETA will supply all the vittles—including hearty veggie burgers and sausages, firehouse favorite five-alarm chili, and indulgent vegan snacks like Oreos—and donate $1,000 toward the renovation efforts.

“Vegan meals save animals’ lives, slash carbon emissions, and help keep firefighters in shape, so PETA’s vegan challenge would be a win for everyone,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “A fire station renovation is a perfect time for a vegan menu revelation, and PETA is eager to help.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Bell follows.

May 3, 2022

Christian Bell

Fire Chief

Eau Claire Fire Department

Dear Chief Bell:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals U.S.—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, including many thousands across Wisconsin—in response to news that your fire station will be renovated and expanded this year. We have a fire in our belly to help because we have a lot of respect for the work you do, and we routinely award firefighters for their animal rescue work—everything from pulling deer out of frozen ponds to racing into burning buildings to rescue dogs. Because we campaign to end cruelty to all animals, we came up with a hot idea: We’d like to propose that the entire Eau Claire Fire Department agree to go vegan for just one week. PETA would supply all the food for everyone in the station for that entire week, including tasty snacks (and five-alarm chili, of course), and give the department $1,000.

Going vegan for a week would mean each one of you would save around 1,100 gallons of water—and we all know the importance of that in both preventing fires and putting them out—as well as 30 square feet of forested land each day. Going vegan for one year saves the lives of nearly 200 animals per person, reducing the number of animals bred to suffer and be killed. People who have come to know cows, pigs, or chickens have discovered that just like you, me, and the dogs and cats we share our homes with, they have feelings and thoughts and want to live.

In addition, eating meat kills firefighters and other humans more than do all the multiple-alarm fires in the U.S., because it is the root cause of most cases of heart disease, cancer of the colon and prostate, strokes, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. Leaving meat off our plates actually reduces our risk of suffering from heart disease by a whopping 32%. And we now know that animal markets are responsible for spreading pathogens such as the novel coronavirus and E. coli. Vegan foods provide all the nutrients a body needs to clamber up those ladders, haul those hoses, wield those axes, and be healthy and strong overall, and it doesn’t pack all the saturated fat, cholesterol, and contaminants found in animal flesh, eggs, and milk.

Take it from world-class triathlete and former firefighter Rip Esselstyn, who inspired his entire Austin, Texas, firehouse to switch to vegan foods. He’s stayed the course for 30 years now and is (fire)fighting fit. In fact, many of the world’s top athletes are vegan, from Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and the record holder for completing the Appalachian Trail, Scott Jurek, to tennis great Novak Djokovic and record-breaking weightlifter Patrik Baboumian.

If you’re up for this smoldering deal, we’ll supply your department with hearty foods such as five-alarm chili, Gardein burgers, Beyond Meat sausages, and MorningStar Farms Veggie BBQ Chik’n Nuggets as well as tasty snack foods like Oreos, Doritos, and granola bars, plus much more. We look forward to hearing from you. All the best in your great work!

Very truly yours,

Ingrid Newkirk

President