Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9409090008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Less noticed this past week was the 50th anniversary of Smokey the Bear's creation.
Yep, it was a half century ago that the Forest Service dreamed up Smokey as the symbol of its campaign to prevent forest fires. It was actually part of the war effort; timber was needed for battleships, gunstocks and packing crates.
Not until 1950 did firefighters in New Mexico actually rescue a bear cub clinging to a tree, and name it Smokey. The cub was nursed back to health, and lived out his life as a favorite of children at the National Zoo.
Smokey the Bear isn't seen so often these days. He's been crowded off the TV tube, it seems, by the likes of Beavis and Butt-head - the symbols of what we're not sure.
In our more complicated and sophisticated age, people are now more aware, too, of the benefits - even the necessity - of fire as a natural, cleansing phase in the cycles of forest eco-systems. Occasional fires are needed even in national parks, such as Yellowstone.
But they are still better started by lightning than by human negligence or criminality. And in developed areas, which account for ever larger swaths of the nation, fires are no less dangerous to life and property.
This summer as others, television screens have been crowded by news of forest fires. At one point last weekend, firefighters were working around the clock to bring under control 39 major fires in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, plus several smaller fires scattered across the West. These followed by days the wind-whipped fire that killed 14 "hot-shot" firefighters in Colorado.
Here in the East, we've not seen fires of this magnitude this year, if ever. But with autumn - a high-danger period in these parts - fast approaching, it's worth remembering Smokey's friendly admonition: Only you can prevent forest fires.
by CNB