By: Grace Wright
Smokey the Bear started in 1941 in California because during World War II many of the able bodied men were off fighting. So, when wildfires started breaking out, there was no one to really fight against them; many communities had to fight them themselves or just let them burn. Protecting the national forests and other parts of the country became a big concern because many of these wildfires were damaging them.
People thought using this worry would help people find something else to focus on instead of the war and also that it would actually get people to help. So, they started the CFFP, Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention. They started posting different slogans like “Forest Fires Aid the Enemy” “Our Carelessness, Their Secret Weapon”. This helped people get motivated to help because they made it seem like the wildfires would make the US look weak, which would allow the war to come closer to home.
They did this for a while without a mascot until Disney came out with the movie ‘Bambi’. They got the rights to use the animal from the movie for a year to help their campaign. Once the year was up they would have to find a new animal. They soon decided that nothing would fit better than a bear. On August 9, 1944 Smokey the Bear was authorized by the Forest Service. They soon started making posters and his popularity became huge.
A couple of years later they soon had a real life Smokey the Bear mascot. During a wildfire in New Mexico a baby bear was found after getting burned in a tree. They took him to Santa Fe to hopefully recover. He soon took over the country and many people loved him. He went to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. to live until he died.
Smokey the Bear’s iconic saying “Remember only you can prevent wildfires” proved to be very useful. It stayed like this for a few decades until they found research that said that some wildfires actually are useful for certain types of forests, so they changed it to “Only you can prevent wildfires”.
Smokey the Bear is very popular to this day, you can find his saying pretty much anywhere. It is also very popular in smaller towns to have a sign that shows the fire hazard for the day and him standing with it. Overall, Smokey the Bear is a very iconic symbol and he did celebrate his 80th birthday in 2024.
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