80 years of wildfire safety with Smokey Bear

AccuWeather

AccuWeather speaks with Robert Westover of the USDA Forest Service, who recognizes the 80th anniversary of wildfire safety and prevention with the iconic character Smokey Bear.

Transcript

00:00About nine out of ten wildfires are caused by humans. What is Smokey Bear's core safety message?

00:07Well, Smokey Bear's core safety message has always been about your individual responsibility

00:13while out in our beautiful wildlands, forests, and grasslands. We all know natural fire is a

00:18good thing, but fire caused by us, what I like to call stupid fire, is what Smokey's talking about.

00:23You know, don't leave your campfire unattended. Make sure it's put out properly with the

00:29pour, stir, pour method where you pour water, you stir it up, and then you pour more water again,

00:33and then you put the back of your hand over it to see if it's still hot. Little things like this,

00:38not dragging your chains to cause sparks that can ignite forest fires. So that's his message.

00:44There's some confusion sometimes about that, but the basic message is your responsibility

00:49as a camper, as a sightseer out in our beautiful national lands.

00:53Well, looking at some of that video, Smokey the Bear has evolved. In how we see, you know,

00:58things a little bit sharper with the imaging, but it's now the 80th year of Smokey Bear,

01:02and how has he evolved, and how has he lasted so many generations?

01:06Well, his message is timeless. It's timeless, and it's applicable all over the world. I mean,

01:12we have beautiful wildlands all over the world, and the timeless message of your responsibility,

01:17what you can do as an individual, it's any wonder he hasn't lasted 80 years. It's a very simple,

01:23straightforward message. Only you can prevent wildfires. So we're really hoping that the next

01:28generation really gets and understands this, because he's only a generation away from being

01:33forgotten about, right? So our job is to keep that alive, and so we've been doing all these

01:37exciting things in this 80th birthday year to get kids excited about it. We're having a Smokey Bear

01:43reading challenge, so check with your local libraries to see what's going on with that.

01:46We're having Smokey visit all sorts of fire prevention events, so see if you can call your

01:51local forest or state forest and get Smokey Bear at your event. Get the kids tied into it,

01:55because this is all about passing it on to the next generation, and that's the focus.

01:59He's looking back, of course, 80 years, but he's also looking forward another 80 years.

02:05All right, we'll leave you with that view of Robert Westover, who is the Public Affairs

02:08Specialist with the USDA Forest Service. Thank you for all your information. I'll

02:13send you my address for a hat.

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