Smokey the Bear, 80 Years Old and Still on Message
On Preventing Forest Fires
Smokey Bear was authorized by the Forest Service 80 years ago (August 9, 2024), making him the longest-running public service campaign in U.S. history. Smokey’s message of fire safety and home hardening continues to be relevant. Despite advancements in wildfire risk modeling and prevention strategies, Smokey Bear’s legacy of promoting fire safety remains a vital part of protecting our communities and natural landscapes.
The first poster (by Albert Staehle) was part of the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign. Today, Smokey is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history. Smokey Bear is primarily associated with the U.S. Forest Service but is also used by the National Association of State Foresters (NASF).
As a public service, NASF, in partnership with the Ad Council, reminds us that 80% of forest fires are triggered by humans. Ignition events are not just from arsonists (like the Park Fire in California), but also from campfires improperly extinguished, hot catalytic converters when a car is parked on dry grasses, and sparks from electrical equipment.
The U.S. Forest Service, established by President Theodore Roosevelt, gained prominence after the devastating forest fire of 1910. (The book, The Big Burn by Don Miller, is quite interesting.) The fire ravaged an area the size of Connecticut (3 million acres) over two days. It extended into Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Southeast British Columbia. Strong winds fueled the fire, destroying multiple towns and killing 87 people. The Great Fire of 1910 remains the largest wildfire in U.S. history.
During World War II, with many experienced firefighters overseas, the U.S. Forest Service launched the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention (CFFP) program to raise public awareness about the dangers of wildfires. This program aimed to address the risks of Japanese attempts to start wildfires in California and the careless actions of civilians, such as improperly extinguished cigarettes and campfires.
On August 9, 1944, Smokey Bear was introduced by the U.S. Forest Service on a poster for the CFFP. Inspired by New York City Fire Department hero “Smokey” Joe Martin, who suffered burns and blindness during a 1922 rescue, Smokey Bear quickly became a symbol of wildfire prevention. In 1950, a real bear cub named Smokey was rescued from a fire in New Mexico, further cementing the character’s place in American culture. Smokey the bear cub, after recovering from his burns, was relocated to the National Zoo, and his story captivated the nation. In 1984, the U.S. Postal Service commemorated Smokey’s 40th birthday with a special stamp.
The Smokey Bear campaign has always emphasized the role humans play in starting wildfires. While the goal of reducing human-caused wildfires remains unchanged, our understanding of forests and fire management has evolved. Today, most wildfires start in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), where human activity is prevalent.
There are now multiple federal agencies and scientists working on wildfire models. Additionally, many firms have developed technology to detect ignition events. Unfortunately, the world is changing quickly. Vegetation dries out more rapidly in the heat, and wildfires that gain speed now burn at temperatures 400 degrees hotter than those of 20 or more years ago.
Athena addresses two problems:
First, the question "Where is the wildfire risk?" can now be answered using data collected by researchers, although this data can be difficult to work with. Athena takes best-in-class wildfire risk data and synthesizes it into a new, synthetic data layer that is easy-to-use in Living Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs), and a myriad of other uses by power companies, insurance companies and other financial market participants.
Secondly, by using AI, this new data set can be evaluated to prioritize mitigation or hardening efforts. Athena identifies areas predisposed to hosting a large wildfire a full year in advance, shifting the focus from reactive to proactive planning. This allows for budgeting, team organization, and action planning while the near-term fire risk is still months away. In situations like the recent lightning storm near Fresno, California, which saw 1,000 lightning strikes, Athena can determine which ignition events require immediate attention, thereby optimizing the allocation of limited resources.
Today, management of wildfire risks incorporates a variety of actions, from clearing brush to hardening structures and turning off electrical circuits on windy, high-risk days.
Advancements in Wildfire Risk Analysis
Athena’s Voice of the Acre® uses advanced geospatial computational power and public databases to quantify wildfire risk. Using conditions of the land, historic fires within the bioregion, the new synthetic data layer is a detailed analysis of factors such as potential fire intensity, vegetation type, and fire-induced wind conditions, providing insights that were not available even a decade ago.
For example, in high-risk WUI intermix areas, the total acreage involved in fires was 4.80%, compared to 3.18% in WUI interface areas, highlighting the importance of managed boundaries.
Embers are the leading cause of home destruction during wildfires, with research showing that over 60% of homes near the WUI ignite from embers landing on flammable materials. Therefore, home hardening remains a critical factor in wildfire prevention.
As Smokey Bear approaches his 80th birthday in 2024, his message of fire safety and home hardening continues to be relevant. With ongoing advancements in wildfire risk modeling and prevention strategies, Smokey Bear’s legacy of promoting fire safety remains a vital part of protecting our communities and natural landscapes.
Athena Intelligence is a data vendor with a geospatial, conditional, profiling tool that pulls together vast amounts of disaggregated wildfire and environmental data to generate spatial intelligence, resulting in a digital fingerprint of wildfire risk.
