Smokey Bear was brought by the U.S. Forest Service from New Mexico in June of 1950 after being burned as a cub from a forest fire that swept through a portion of the Lincoln National Forest. Smokey Bear served as a living symbol of the Smokey Bear forest fire prevention program.

1944 Created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history, educating generations of Americans about their role in preventing wildfires.

Smokey Bear teaches people how to prevent human-caused wildfires and protect habitats. Children learn that forests, grasslands, and plains are homes to animals… create a Word/Picture Wall about these areas…

The new mascot is Ember the Fox. Ember was designed and made in Canada, where the idea originated. Although Smokey is an icon of past generations, Ember's brightly colored fur and animated look are more appealing to the younger kids of today.

Smokey has black bear relatives who weigh as much as 800 pounds. Some of his grizzly bear cousins weigh almost a ton! WEIGHT AT BIRTH: About 1-1/2 pounds. In other words, he weighed about as much as a big loaf of bread.

Smokey. A police officer (refers to Smokey Bear, known for wearing a campaign hat very similar to that included in many highway patrol uniforms in the United States; origin of Smokey and the Bandit movie title).

As the Big Bear community is well aware, the Radford Fire began on the afternoon of September 5 in the Barton Flats area South of Big Bear Valley. The valiant efforts of firefighters during the first 36 hours of the initial attack were unrelenting and sustained.

Oct. 25, 2003 On Oct. 25, 2003, with the temperature in the 100s in the San Bernardino Valley, during hot Santa Ana winds, the Old Fire was intentionally started in Old Waterman Canyon, causing the evacuation of every mountain resident from Cedarpines Park to Big Bear, estimated to be approximately 80,000 people.

The Bear teaches us COURAGE. The Bear provides many lessons in the way it lives, but courage is the most important teaching it offers. Though gentle by nature, the ferociousness of a mother Bear when one of her cubs is approached is the true definition of courage.

Smokey has black bear relatives who weigh as much as 800 pounds. Some of his grizzly bear cousins weigh almost a ton! WEIGHT AT BIRTH: About 1-1/2 pounds. In other words, he weighed about as much as a big loaf of bread.

Sometimes, Smokey gets caught in the middle of the campaign's roots in World War II patriotism, propaganda and racism. Some scholars who study anthropology and race, including geographer Jake Kosek, argue that the campaign is a symbol of white racist colonialism.

According to the U.S. Forest Service website on Smokey, the original Smokey Bear was a fictional bear dreamed up as a symbol in 1944 for the Forest Service's campaign on forest fire prevention. However, in 1950, his name was bestowed on a bear cub who was rescued from a forest fire in New Mexico.