Tobacco Company Helping Firefighters

A smokeless tobacco company is giving the Washington State Firefighters’ Association more than $100,000 to be spent on training and education.

Money will come from statewide sales this year of Skoal and Copenhagen chewing tobacco and distributed through a non-profit independent board.

Most of the money will train volunteers and full-time firefighters in dealing with wildland fires, said Fred Allinson, a member of the state firefighters association.

Allinson announced the gift during a meeting in Spokane on Thursday.

Washington is the third state to get money from United States Tobacco, which sold about $1 billion of chewing tobacco worldwide last year, according to spokesman Patrick Kinney.

The company, which makes no cigarettes, gave money to firefighters in Texas and Tennessee earlier this year and last.

“We’ve given money to good causes before,” said Kinney.

“If this enhances our reputation with consumers and that gives us a competitive advantage, those are reasons we are doing this, but not the main reasons,” Kinney said.

, DataTimes