Summer fire season has begun in the American West, and smoke is spreading across Wyoming from fires burning in the north and west, as well as within the state itself.

If you’re under 50, chances are you think of Smokey Bear as a fictional character who appears at parades and community events where the Forest Service is present. You may not realize how relevant his place is in the history of wildland firefighting in the United States.

I thought it would be a good time to retell the story of Smokey’s phenomenal life and how it has impacted hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children and adults to understand and respect the beauty of the natural world around us.

Our story began when Harlow Yeager, a U.S. Forest Service ranger, surveyed the smoldering remains of what was once a vibrant, green wilderness paradise.

As far as he could see, in every direction he saw the charred skeletons of tree trunks and wild animals that had not escaped the hot breath of a huge fire.

Yeager stood in the middle of the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. The horrific scene he saw was the result of a massive fire that had burned through 17,000 acres of beautiful ponderosa pine forest in recent days.

A scared little cub

As Yeager took a last look at the wasteland before him, his gaze fell on something moving in the charred remains of a tree.

As he approached, he discovered a small black bear cub hugging a burned-out pine trunk. Yeager gently removed the screaming 5-pound cub and checked him for burns. The little guy’s feet were singed by the intense heat of the burned tree and he had likely not eaten for days, but otherwise he appeared to be in relatively good health.

After calming the frightened cub with soothing words and a hearty pat, the ranger handed him over to a member of his crew and ordered him to carry the animal back to camp so first aid could be administered.

Fire strikes

It was late spring 1950, and little rain had fallen so far in the conifer forests that clung to the slopes of the Capitan Mountains in south-central New Mexico. What little moisture had fallen had been quickly absorbed by the loose pine tinder that covered the forest floor, leaving the area a disaster waiting to happen.

On May 4, a terrible tragedy occurred.

Perhaps the culprit was a bolt of lightning, or perhaps it was a camper who carelessly tossed his lit cigarette onto the dry forest floor. Whatever the cause, flames tore through the area and before the fire department could arrive, the fire was out of control.

Local, state and federal personnel on the ground eventually received much-needed assistance from soldiers stationed at the air base 60 miles away in Roswell and from Fort Bliss, Texas.

A potentially deadly situation arose when several soldiers were surrounded by the intense flames of the fire. A large pile of rocks provided an island on which the men hoped to escape the hell.

Crouching on the stone platform, they placed wet handkerchiefs over their faces, hoping and praying that the fire would encircle the rocks. For nearly an hour, the terrified men lay there until the flames finally passed.

Miraculously, none of them were injured.

When the fire was finally extinguished, the firefighters slowly returned to the camp.

There they found the rescued bear cub, which caused quite a stir.

The new Smokey

As the men took turns trying to feed the bear, the frightened cub refused to eat.

Eventually, Ross Flatley, owner of a nearby ranch, announced that he and his wife Patricia would care for the cub until other arrangements could be made. Ray Bell, a New Mexico game warden, visited the ranch the next day and retrieved the bear.

It was then that Bell came up with the idea of ​​using the cub as the living symbol of a fire prevention program implemented by the U.S. Forest Service several years earlier. The campaign had used an imaginary bear named Smokey as its “spokesman.”

Bell was encouraged when everyone he talked to approved of the idea. Bell flew the bear cub to a veterinarian in Santa Fe, who treated the burns on his paws. Six days later, Bell’s 5-year-old daughter, Judy, convinced her father to take the cub home so she and her mother could nurse him back to health.

Bell’s boss was Elliott Barker, a legend among New Mexico naturalists and conservationists.

Barker, the director of the New Mexico Game and Fish Department, liked the idea of ​​using a live bear to raise public awareness of the tragedy of wildfires. When he called the authorities in Washington, D.C., and presented the plan, they approved it, too.

The orphan boy was officially named “Smokey Bear.”

Excited Forest Service officials decided to fly Smokey to Washington and place him in the National Zoological Park, where he would serve as a “national spokesman” for the cause of forest fire prevention.

Smokey runs away

After two commercial airlines refused to fly Smokey unless he was placed in the overhead bin, Frank Hines, an airline owner in Hobbs, New Mexico, offered his time and a plane to transport the cub.

A local artist was hired to paint an image of Smokey on both sides of the fuselage of the plane. On June 27, 1950, Smokey, accompanied by two local forest rangers, took off for the nation’s capital.

By now, news of Smokey’s remarkable rescue had spread throughout the country.

At almost every airport where the plane stopped to refuel, large crowds of curious onlookers gathered to catch a glimpse of the brave little bear. By the time the plane finally landed in Washington, Smokey was on his way to becoming a national hero.

For 26 years, Smokey Bear was the living symbol of America’s pride in its forests, wildlife and natural beauty, and its awareness and commitment to fire prevention. A generation of children grew up seeing Smokey’s friendly face and ubiquitous shovel, and hearing and learning his admonition that “only you can prevent forest fires.”

Smokey’s life and work have been commemorated with highway signs, comic books, baseball caps, stuffed animals, wall posters, bookmarks and more.

When the old man died in November 1976, he was probably the most famous animal in the United States. His body was returned to New Mexico and buried in Capitan, near Lincoln National Forest.

The Capitan Ranger District, where the cub was found, was renamed “Smokey Bear” in 1960 and later merged with another district to form the current Smokey Bear Ranger District.

Today, the state-run Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan commemorates the life and legacy of this American icon.