Harrison Ford narrates this public service announcement about not having an eclipse in judgement.
New Smokey Bear song corrects the icon’s name
When the Smokey Bear fire prevention campaign began in 1944 he was known as just that, “Smokey Bear” without “the” in the name.
But in 1952 Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins wrote what became a successful song named “Smokey the Bear”. They said adding “the” enhanced the song’s rhythm. A Little Golden Book published about the bear in 1955 followed the songwriters lead and also used the incorrect “the” version of the name.
All this created confusion, but the name of the fire prevention icon is and always has been Smokey Bear.
A few years ago the U.S. Forest Service gave a grant to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources who teamed up with students from the Columbus College of Art and Design and 2Tall Animation Studio to research, design, and create a new Smokey Bear animated video and song.
Notice his name…
A teacher’s kit is available that has wildfire prevention activities, lyrics to the song, a Smokey Bear comic book, and coloring pages.
New fire prevention print ads
In addition to the two new Smokey Bear fire prevention videos, the Ad Council has created three new print ads featuring artwork made of the ashes of wildfires.
You can download higher resolution versions here.
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New Smokey Bear PSAs
The Ad Council has produced two new Smokey Bear public service announcements.
Defensible space video
It’s a little cheezy, but gets the message across.
Los Angeles Times op ed on reforming wildfire funding
Outdated budget rules require the U.S. Forest Service to fight fires by diverting funds from other parts of its budget — including fire prevention programs.
Continue readingStick figure fireworks safety
I’m thinking the BLM did not waste a lot of money producing this 36-second public service announcement, but I like it, and it could be effective. Nicely done, BLM!
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(UPDATE at 11:18 a.m. PT, July 1, 2015)
After we posted the video, Kevin Conran of the BLM left this comment:
Thank you for the compliments on our PSAs. As you surmised this was very low cost to produce. It was actually produced by a local high school student. We hosted a contest among the high school speech/communications classes and challenged them to produce PSAs aimed at reaching their age group.
How to provide defensible space around structure
Along the same lines as a graphic we posted last week, here is another excellent diagram clearly illustrating to a property owner how to provide defensible space around a structure.
Reduce your wildfire risk around your home, zone by zone
Smokey Bear’s historical video reel
The video above shows some historical examples of how Smokey Bear has appeared in public service announcements.
Below is a new version of a Smokey Bear song.
The original Smokey Bear song was the genesis of a misunderstanding of Smokey’s middle name: “The”. A songwriter added it because he thought it was needed in the phraseology of the music. But Smokey does not have a middle name. He is SMOKEY BEAR.