Smokey Bear celebrates 80 years of prevention messaging

August 2024 marks the 80th birthday of the U.S. Forest Service icon Smokey Bear. (Please note.) “The” is not Smokey’s middle name. While the blue jean clad, hat-wearing, bare chested bear does not have a real identity crisis, almost everyone (myself included occasionally) wants to add the extra syllable. Mickey the Mouse, Donald the Duck and Bugs the Bunny never endure such indignity, but Smokey is stuck with the innocuous, inaccurate noun marker.

Smokey first showed up in 1944 on a wildfire prevention poster from the U.S. Department of Agriculture dousing an unattended campfire above the text: Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires! In 1947 the slogan changed to “Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” and in 2001 it was tweaked again to change the last words to “wildfires.”

The public service announcement message spread rapidly in 1950 after an orphaned black bear cub was named Smokey following his rescue from the smoldering ashes of a fire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. The Forest Service took the injured baby bruin to the Smithsonian National Zoo where he became symbolic of efforts to prevent wildfires. Smokey lived at the zoo until his death in 1976. The “the” in his name is attributed to a popular song written in 1952, according to the smokeybear.com webpage.

Worries about wildfires began in earnest following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fears of incendiary bomb attacks on the US mainland brought attention to the possibility of devastation and death throughout the nation’s forests.

In 1942 the popularity of Walt Disney’s movie Bambi stoked America’s interest even more. The company loaned its cartoon character images to the effort, but only for one year. Smokey was created to carry the torch for the “please don’t be careless” message originally championed by Bambi, Thumper and Flower. (Those one-name stars apparently never needed deer, rabbit or skunk last names.)

I remember Smokey from my childhood, and he certainly helped me understand the danger of accidental fires, careless burning, and potential destruction. In the late 1990s, two Missouri farms where I hunted deer were burned extensively in separate wildfire incidents the same summer, so I have some first-hand experience.

I’ve long known about nation’s smoke jumpers, and locally our rural fire protection districts spend their summers chasing “brush fires,” but it seems like the wild blazes continue to get bigger and badder every year. Smoke from California, Colorado and Canada routinely finds its way into our Midwest weather forecasts. These uncontrolled burns are measured in square miles now rather than acres.

Whether the blame belongs to the heat, drought and other factors of a changing climate, or neglected and unfunded maintenance, we must all acknowledge Smokey’s birthday by exercising extreme caution and following his suggestions.

Campfires are a great component of an evening outdoors, but you must make sure campfire sites are appropriately located, fire pits are correctly designed and assembled, fire size remains manageable, and a plan for extinguishing or emergencies has considered all contingencies.

Backyard burning projects are another activity fraught with fire danger. Before you begin, check weather conditions and local ordinances. Make sure there are no overhead branches or power lines. Keep a water source and shovel handy, and make sure your fire size remains manageable. Always stay with your fire until it is completely burned out, and repeatedly douse and stir the ash pile to eliminate all embers.

To learn more about fire (including its benefits), prevention tips, Smokey’s story, and some fun new PSA videos, visit smokeybear.com.

John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine.