Smokey Bear hot air balloon. Photo from Friends of Smokey Bear Balloon Facebook page

UPDATED January 7, 2012. Scroll to the bottom to see how Wildfire Today was called the “balloon lobby” by Senator McConnell’s Chief of Staff.

============

The Smokey Bear hot air balloon has been flying over crowds of people since its first public voyage in 1993 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico. In 2012 the U.S. government spent $31,000 to help the aerial image of Smokey appear at venues across the country.

Most of the $200,000 annual budget for the 97-foot tall balloon comes from sponsorship and donations.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wants to permanently ground it, saying on Thursday at the opening day of the new Congress:

…If we can’t stop spending taxpayer dollars on robo-squirrels, and dancing robot DJ’s or hot air balloon rides for Smokey the Bear, then there’s no hope at all.

Here is an excerpt from an article at krqe.com:

New Mexico State Forestry spokesperson Dan Ware says the balloon ultimately pays for itself.

“The balloon much like Smokey Bear himself is a symbol and it’s a teaching tool,” Ware said. “It’s an intangible. If one wildfire isn’t caused because someone remembers the message of Smokey Bear from when they were a child or when they were an adult, if one person contributes to not causing a human-caused wildfire then I think it’s worth it.”

McConnell isn’t the first GOP senator to be critical of the balloon. In his annual “Waste Book”, Sen. Tom Coburn (R – OK) listed the $31,000 in federal funding spent on the Smokey Bear Balloon in 2012 as a needless cost, saying the money would be better spent towards more DC-10 tankers to fight wildfires.

If we can assume that Smokey Bear actually does help to prevent forest fires, then an annual budget of $31,000 is an extremely good investment, and is about equal to three hours of flight time for a BAe-146 air tanker or 1.5 hours for a DC-10.

For more information about the Smokey Bear hot air balloon, check out the Friends of Smokey Bear Balloon web site or Facebook page.

The Smokey Bear balloon is launched at the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Pilot: Bill Chapel, Chase Truck: Dallas and Carol Griner. Helpers: Boxelder Job Corps students. Photo by Karen Wattenmaker.

UPDATE, January 7, 2012:

Our January 4 tweet about Senator Mitch McConnell’s desire to permanently ground the Smokey balloon got the attention of Josh Holmes, apparently the same Josh Holmes who is Senator McConnell’s Chief of Staff. Mr. Holmes appears to be calling Wildfire Today the “balloon lobby”.

Mr. Holmes’ Twitter photo is similar to the photo on the Josh Holmes LinkedIn page where is is identified as “Chief of Staff at U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Washington D.C.” as you can see below:

The Washington Post has more information about Mr. Holmes.

There is some new Smokey Bear stuff out there. One is the video below, which was posted on Smokey’s YouTube page three days ago.

Also new:

• Mobile app for Android smart phones.
• Mobile app for iPhones
• Web site optimized for mobile devices

Here is a screen shot of the mobile web site, which is identical in appearance to the mobile Android app.

http://www.smokeybearmobile.com/

I downloaded the Android app. It contains some good information, has a pleasing appearance, and it works fairly well, but has a couple of confusing design quirks. When you are on any page in the app, there is a large bar across the top that says “Back”. This, of course, takes you to the previous page within the app, but it remains there when you’re on the home page for the app, which looks like a secondary page. Touching it then exits the app.

The home page says “Campfire Safety”, which seems like it should be a sub-heading within the app. Four of the nine large buttons on the home page refer to campfire topics, while the other five are unrelated.

The Android Smokey Bear app is a good first effort, but needs a few tweaks. I would give it three out of five stars.

Scan this with a smart phone to go to Smokey's mobile site

The Advertising Council, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters released today a new Smokey Bear advertising campaign. It includes the poster above, the video below, radio PSAs, and an educational DVD. The announcement is a little ahead of the Smokey Bear web site and his Facebook page, which will probably have more details later.

The video is about 8 minutes long. It is animated and is directed at children, educating them about campfire safety.

The video is pretty good, and will probably be effective for the intended audience, young children.

Sam Elliott

who took over the role as Smokey’s voice in June, 2008 when a new series of PSAs was launched. One of Elliott’s first PSAs was cancelled after a controversy about the use of ATVs in the forest, but his voice was used in other videos. Washington D.C. radio station WMAL personality Jackson Weaver served as Smokey’s voice until his death in 1992. The voice was then silent until Elliott resurrected it in 2008.

Information about the 2009 Smokey Bear campaign.