...Protecting the forests was part of the war effort in World War II, said Linda Hecker, fire prevention specialist with the U.S. Forest service in Lakeland, Colorado. The Japanese launched incendiary devices hoping to cause wildfires on the West Coast, but were largely unsuccessful. "We needed the wood and that was part of winning the war," she said. "That's how the whole campaign came about, the need to prevent forest fires from happening." Some of the first fire prevention campaigns dealt with the "evil axis," but after the Disney movie "Bambi" was so successful and featured a forest fire caused by a hunter leaving an unattended campfire, USFS officials decided it would be more successful using an animal. "Disney gave the forest service the loan of Bambi for a year while we tried to figure out what our campaign was going to be," Hecker said. "People were receptive to getting their fire prevention message from an animal and eventually, they decided to come up with a bear. Robert Ball drew the first one. It shows a bear in (overalls) putting out a campfire by dumping water on it." That was in 1944. The living Smokey wasn't rescued as a cub from the Capitan Gap Fire until 1950. When he died, his body was returned to the Smokey Bear Historical Park to be buried. "It is the most successful campaign in all of history," Hecker said. "In marketing classes, you will hear that. They keep it fresh and up to date. The campaign is run by three entities, the U.S. Forest Service, The Ad Council and the National Association of State Foresters."...MORE
Smokey is buried in his own historical park. Now, if we could just bury the Forest Service...
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