Smokey Bear: Did you Know?

The weather here in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee areas of South Carolina has been HOT HOT HOT this summer of 2019. All ages from the GI generation to the Millenials say they cannot remember a summer when it has been this hot and this dry for so long. Just as the summer seems to be getting even hotter, we are reminded that August 9th is Smokey Bear’s birthday. The saying “hot as fire” has a different meaning if it relates to a forest fire! It can mean deadly destruction of natural resources and loss of precious human and animal lives.

The saying “hot as fire” means something other than hot summer temps when it comes to forest fires!

All of us in the timber industry take great care to be good stewards of the land and timber we harvest. Sometimes fires actually HELP forests, if they are controlled burns. This year, in 2019, Smokey Bear turned 75.

On the history.com website, Erin Blakemore reports that the iconic figure of Smokey Bear was born out of fear in World War II. She reports, “The ad campaign that spawned the cartoonish bear, and a fire prevention legend, was only made possible by wartime paranoia about the possibility of a Japanese invasion of the continental United States.” Wow! Who knew? According to History, WWII was making all United States resources scarce — including equipment and manpower to fight forest fires. Increasing numbers of male firefighters were joining the war efforts, and foresters wanted the American public to become more aware of the danger of forest fires. They also wanted to enlist the public to help PREVENT forest fires. The Forest Service joined the newly-created War Advertising Council; in 1944 the program actually featured Disney’s Bambi in its advertising campaigns that splashed posters nationwide urging the public to join in the war effort by helping prevent forest fires. In 1950, a small bear cub was badly burned and rescued during a forest fire in the Captain Mountains of New Mexico. The Forest Service adopted the animal, named him after New York fire-fighting legend Smokey Joe Martin, and brought him to the National Zoo. Smokey Bear became an American icon with the catchphrase that is still popular today: ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES.

During this summer of dangerous heat, let us continue to be vigilant when it comes to fires in our precious forests by remembering the great Smokey Bear on his birthday.