Taco Bell gives year of free food to man who survived on fire sauce

BEND, Oregon -- A man whose car was stranded in central Oregon snow for five days survived by eating taco sauce packets and starting the engine periodically to warm up.

Now Taco Bell is thanking Jeremy Taylor for all the free publicity his tale of survival has brought to the chain. They're offering him free food for a year.

A snowmobiler found Taylor, 36, of Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member who rode to him on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said Sgt. William Bailey, the spokesman for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.

Taylor, an avid outdoorsman who loves to go off-roading, was last seen getting gas on Feb. 24 in Sunriver.

He told his rescuers he and his dog, Ally, became stuck in deep snow on a U.S. Forest Service road later that same day.

He slept in his car and when he awoke Monday, more snow had fallen.

He attempted to hike out, but the snow was too deep, so Taylor and Ally returned to his car.

"Thank you everyone, I'm safe my Ally dog is safe. I really appreciate all the help. Got lucky, lets (sic) never do that again. I'll be in touch with everyone soon," he wrote on his Facebook page late Friday.

Taylor did not reply to a message sent through Facebook on Saturday.

In response to a friend's Facebook comment about how he ate three Taco Bell hot sauce packets during the ordeal, he joked: "Taco Bell fire sauce saves lives!"

Taylor and his dog were both in good health when found, authorities said, but were very hungry.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.