Only You Can Prevent Wildfires!
From making sure our campfires are out cold to home safety and preparedness, Smokey Bear has been giving us helpful tips on how we can prevent wildfires for more than 80 years. Read on to find out more about Smokey and wildfire prevention in the Compact.
Enjoy one of the PDF coloring booklets below, created by Mercedes Schott for the Compact in 2017. Each coloring set is customized with the state’s wildlife symbols, such as state flowers, trees, and birds.
Compact Smokey Coloring Booklets
Smokey’s Scouts
Learn more about wildfire preparedness and safety in this match-3 game from the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), the Mid-Atlantic Fire Compact, and the US Forest Service!
Sing along with Eddy Arnold singing “Smokey the Bear” in this YouTube video from @SmokeyBear!
For more than 80 years, Smokey Bear has been promoting fire prevention in our forests. The first campaign featuring Smokey was produced in August of 1944, featuring Smokey in his now iconic campaign (“ranger”) hat and blue jeans pouring a bucket of water on a fire. The caption reads “Smokey Says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!”
Learn more about Smokey Bear’s history at SmokeyBear.com.
(Staehle, Albert. 1945. “Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!.” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/453.)
The real Smokey Bear was a cub that, in 1950, survived a wildfire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico by climbing a tree. Firefighters rescued the badly singed and burned cub who was later taken to Santa Fe by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Ranger Ray Bell for treatment. Smokey lived at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, until his passing in 1976. He is buried at Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico, where people still visit him.
Learn more about the Story of Smokey on SmokeyBear.com.
(Unknown. 1950. “Smokey, Ray Bell and plane .” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/428.)
Smokey has been popular for much of his 80 years and has had quite a few looks, with some of his most well-known painted by Rudy Wendelin, who created at least 18 different paintings of Smokey from 1979 through 1996. This painting from 1995 is titled “Smokey Says- Prevent Wildfires.”
Smokey campaigns over the years have had many artists with different words, such as Smokey’s collaboration with Walt Disney’s Bambi saying “Only you can prevent forest fires. We can’t.” in 1982, and a watercolor print of Smokey with baby animals reading “Remember: there are babes in the woods.” All of these campaigns have had the same message of wildfire prevention.
(Wendelin, Rudy. 1995. “Smokey Says- Prevent Wildfires .” Special Collections, USDA National Agricultural Library. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/speccoll/items/show/423.)
Smokey’s famous slogan – “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” – was created by the Ad Council in 1947 and lasted for more than 50 years. If you look closely, you might still see some of these older signs in places.
(Tonelli, Nicholas A. 2011. Older Smokey sign in Pine Creek Gorge Natural Area, Tioga State Forest, PA. Flickr. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/5315363528/)
With time comes understanding and recognition of effects. Smokey was so popular that any and all forest fires had become something to be extinguished. With a recognition that natural and prescribed fires are beneficial for forests and other wildlands, and to broaden the reach to all wildlands including grasslands, Smokey’s slogan changed in 2001. Now, “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.”
(Tonelli, Nicholas A. 2011. Modern Smokey Sign, Parker Dam State Park, Clearfield Co., PA. Flickr. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicholas_t/5801400082/)
While Smokey Bear is most commonly associated with the US Forest Service, he is also used by the National Association of State Foresters and works with the National Park Service and state parks on occasion.
From time to time, he can be found with some of his friends, like Ranger Parker Redfox of the Virginia State Parks.
(VA State Park Staff. 2014. “Smokey and Parker Buddies.” Virginia State Parks on Flickr. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://www.flickr.com/photos/vastateparksstaff/15795976168/)
For a bear that’s more than 80 years old, Smokey is still active and looking good. You might find him spreading his message at your local forest or park, a school event, or even marching in a parade! You can even find him online at SmokeyBear.com!
Kids can also download their own Smokey coloring books for each of the Mid-Atlantic Fire Compact states!
And remember, as Smokey says, “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires!”
(Warner, Chris. 2019. “Smokey Bear 75th Birthday at Allegheny National Forest.” USDA Forest Service. WikiMedia Commons. Accessed February 28, 2025, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smokey_Bear_75th_Birthday_at_Allegheny_National_Forest_01.jpg)