10: Smokey Bear
The Real-Life Inspiration Behind the Campaign “Only YOU Can Prevent Wildfires!”
Born: January 1950, Lincoln National Forest (Near Capitan), New Mexico, United States of America
Died: 9 May 1976, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
In Spring 1950, a wildfire was blazing through the Capitan Mountains in New Mexico. While various crews battled to contain and stop the fire, a report went out that a small bear cub was wandering the line of the blaze all alone.
The fire crews hoped that the bear cub’s mother would soon return to save her baby, but sadly this would not occur. It is believed the cub's mother died in the fire. Instead, the little bear would climb a tree to try to escape the blaze. While he would survive, he did not do so unscathed. His paws and hind legs were badly burned, but the firefighters were able to remove him from the tree.
A local rancher agreed to take care of the cub initially, but the bear was eventually flown to Santa Fe where his wounds were carefully treated.
News of the bear cub spread like, well, wildfire, and soon his story was known all across New Mexico and the rest of the country. Everyone wanted to know how he was doing and if he would survive. The state game warden eventually wrote to the chief of the United States Forest Service with an idea. The bear cub’s life would be dedicated to a publicity campaign to help prevent further forest fires.
Soon after, the little cub was sent to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC. He would spend the rest of his life known by his new name—Smokey Bear. Smokey would spend the rest of his life living at the zoo and became so popular the US Postal service had to assign him his own zip code! According to the State Foresters website (article linked below) the only other individual in US history to have received their own zipcode is the sitting US President. He received gifts like honey, letters from children, and much more.
While living at the zoo, Smokey learned to love peanut butter sandwiches, which he was given as a treat alongside his regular diet of various kinds of fish. Smokey was also given a mate, a female bear named Goldie, in 1962. The zoo hoped the pair would mate and continue on Smokey's legacy, however, by 1971 the pair had failed to produce any cubs of their own, so the zoo instead gave the pair an orphaned cub from Smokey's home forest of Lincoln. The zoo announced that Smokey and Goldie had adopted the cub, who was named Little Smokey.
Children all across the United States were raised to not only recognize a cartoon image of Smokey*, but also tips on how to prevent forest fires (the phrasing was later changed to “wildfires”). Even today, Smokey’s image is one that is recognizable to people all across the United States—one study said as many as 96% of US adults recognized Smokey in 2022. His is the longest running PSA Campaign in US history and will officially reach its 80th anniversary in 2024.
After his death, Smokey was returned to be buried at the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico, near where he was originally spotted and rescued.
According to the official Smokey Bear website, there is some confusion around Smokey’s name. In 1952, a song about Smokey was released. In order to “maintain the rhythm” of the song, the writers said his name as “Smokey the Bear” which is why so many call him “Smokey the Bear” today, but according to the site, his name never actually included “the” and was always just “Smokey Bear.”
Today, about 85% of forest fires in the United States are caused by humans. Whether it is intentional arson or accidental doesn’t matter when thousands of acres of forest land are burning every year. As someone who has lived in Arizona most of my life, I was raised to recognize Smokey’s image and to be much more conscious of fires and their causes. All throughout my life we have had one devastating fire after another, whether it be Rodeo Chediski (which burned 462,600 acres), the Wallow Fire (which burned just over 535,000 acres and as of May 2024 is the most devastating forest fire in recorded Arizona history), Yarnell Hill (which burned around 8,000 acres), or so many others. These fires not only burn thousands of acres of forest, as I mentioned, but they can also turn deadly at times.
In 2013, The Yarnell Hill fire ripped across Arizona. While this particular fire was found to have been caused by dry lightning, the devastation it caused led to the deaths of nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. If this sounds familiar, it is because their story was memorialized in the 2017 film “Only the Brave”.
I want to take a moment here, before getting back to Smokey, to memorialize the Granite Mountain Hotshots and thank them for their service. The Hotshots were:
Grant McKee, 21 years old at the time of the fire
Kevin Woyjeck, 21 years old at the time of the fire
Wade Parker, 22 years old at the time of the fire
Robert Caldwell, 23 years old at the time of the fire
Anthony Rose, 23 years old at the time of the fire
Dustin DeFord, 24 years old at the time of the fire
John Percin Jr., 24 years old at the time of the fire
William Warneke, 25 years old at the time of the fire
Sean Misner, 26 years old at the time of the fire
Travis Turbyfill, 27 years old at the time of the fire
Garret Zuppiger, 27 years old at the time of the fire
Scott Norris, 28 years old at the time of the fire
Clayton Whitted, 28 years old at the time of the fire
Andrew Ashcraft, 29 years old at the time of the fire
Christopher MacKenzie, 30 years old at the time of the fire
Travis Carter, 31 years old at the time of the fire
Joe Thurston, 32 years old at the time of the fire
Jesse Steed, 36 years old at the time of the fire
Eric Marsh, 43 years old at the time of the fire
I would also like to thank Brendan McDonough for his service. Brendan was the only member of the Hotshots to survive the fire, and has dedicated his life to spreading awareness of fire safety to help prevent fires and the dangerous consequences of them.
There have been many other firefighters and hotshots who have been killed in the line of duty over the years as well, and I would like to thank all of them for their service here. I highlighted the Granite Mountain Hotshots specifically because their deaths continue to affect us Arizonans. I was thirteen years old at the time and I know that Arizona, and the world, lost nineteen brilliant and brave shining young men eleven years ago. They were all far too young and will never be forgotten.
Now, back to Smokey and the dangers fire can cause.
While Smokey Bear’s campaign slogan has changed to focus exclusively on human-caused fires (the phrasing changing from “Forest Fires” to more specifically “Wildfires” in 2001) it is important to remember that ALL fires are dangerous and need to be taken seriously. Please remember to always extinguish your fires and smother the ashes and coals as well. Do not allow chains or anything else to drag from your moving vehicle, always make sure to be safe with electricity to prevent sparks, remove dry brush and weeds that have died from your property, and always carry water with you to prevent small sparks/fires in case of emergencies. And, if you live in a place like Arizona where the forest service will post Fire Danger warnings, always make sure to heed those warnings and be extra-precautious during High and Extreme Fire Danger days.
Remember everyone, just like Smokey has taught us, “Only YOU can prevent wildfires.”
*Interestingly enough, the first Smokey Bear ads began to appear three years before the actual Smokey Bear cub was rescued in New Mexico. The real, living, bear helped promote the cartoon image that was already in use, but not so well known at the time. As previously mentioned, Smokey has been helping teach kids and adults across the country about the dangers of fires for eighty years, and hopefully he will continue to do so for many years to come.
Smokey Bear Sources:
https://smokeybear.com/en/smokeys-history/story-of-smokey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Bear#Living_symbol
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/pictures/smokey-bear
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2482/the-smokey_bear
Various Fire Sources:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/61210
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5333354.pdf
https://www.iawfonline.org/article/the-yarnell-hill-fire-a-review-of-lessons-learned/
https://www.weather.gov/fgz/YarnellFire2013
https://azstateparks.com/hotshots/the-hotshots/about-the-hotshots