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Smokey bear revamps fire message Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/conservation/news/2002/0820/1420739.htmlDale and his group believe that decades of fire suppression by the Forest Service led to the build-up of deadwood and underbrush under the forest canopy, providing the perfect fuel for the massive fires now scorching the West. The best thing homeowners can do now is focus on preparation, not prevention, he said.
http://espn.go.com/outdoors/conservation/news/2002/0820/1420739.html
Smokey Bear revamps fire message
By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press — Aug. 19, 2002
PORTLAND, Ore. — Smokey Bear, the lovable World War II-era icon of forest fire prevention, is back on the scene with a new Web site, a new message, and a Gen X competitor.
The Forest Service mascot, who turned 58 on Aug. 9, has become more serious — and scarier. His new message, "Only you can prevent wildfires" — as opposed to "forest fires" — reflects the rising dangers faced by homeowners living closer than before to areas that are vulnerable to flames.
The creators of the original poster bear, the Forest Service and the Ad Council of America, decided to revamp Smokey's kid-friendly message after studies found average adults didn't think they would ever start a wildfire. Most also believed wildfires occur hundreds of miles from population centers, although the movement of people toward the wild has changed that.
"All the adults said, 'I'm safe with fire, I don't have to worry about fire and I would never start one,"' said Brad B. McCormick, senior interactive producer for Ruder Finn, the company that designed Smokey's $100,000 new Web site. "This new campaign is trying to target adults instead of kids. It's much grittier and darker."
The shift comes during a summer of massive wildfires that have swept western states, forcing many people to flee from houses built in areas that half a century ago were considered wild, the domain of bears, deer and birds rather than urban refugees.
About 5.7 million acres have burned this fire season, torching nearly 2,500 houses and other structures and costing the federal government more than $1 billion in one of the worst seasons in memory, said Will Williamson, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
To meet this challenge, Smokey's new campaign qualifies his age-old message, using tools ranging from a Web site that stresses the idea of "good fire" vs. "bad fire" to the modified slogan and a dramatic television ad.
The flashy Web site even discusses the benefits of lighting controlled fires to thin forests ripe for ignition — a deviation from Smokey's original creed.
Smokey's new message, however, does not go far enough for the creators of a new mascot, Reddy Squirrel, who brandishes a rake and warns rural homeowners to "Be Ready!" for the flames that may be inevitable.
"Smokey said only you can prevent forest fires, but we can't prevent forest fires," said Bob Dale of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics in Eugene, the group that created the cheeky mascot. "They're going to happen and they're especially going to happen if people build in these urban-wildland interface areas."
Dale and his group believe that decades of fire suppression by the Forest Service led to the build-up of deadwood and underbrush under the forest canopy, providing the perfect fuel for the massive fires now scorching the West. The best thing homeowners can do now is focus on preparation, not prevention, he said.
In the same vein, Smokey's new Web site reminds viewers that despite prevention efforts, an average of 900 homes are destroyed each year by wildfires. By taking steps such as thinning trees, mowing the lawn and using stucco and tile building materials, homeowners can increase the chances their house will survive a blaze, the site says.
And the switch in Smokey's warning from "forest fires" to "wildfires" is an important distinction, though it may seem minor, said Mike Parise, senior vice president at the Irvine, Calif. advertising firm Foote, Cone & Belding. The firm worked with the nonprofit Ad Council to create the first Smokey Bear for the Forest Service.
"A forest fire is way far away from everybody and these fires are right up near homes. A more accurate description is a wildfire," he said. "When half of Malibu burns, there's no forest in Malibu."
The alternative mascot, the chipper Reddy Squirrel, will take this message one step further when he makes his debut Sept. 1 in "Forest Magazine," a monthly publication of the nonprofit Forest Service employees group.
Reddy's startling slogan — "No one can prevent forest fires. Be ready!" — directly targets people who live in the wildland-urban interface, where most homes burn. The red squirrel hoists a rake over his shoulder and gives a thumbs up from beneath a yellow safety helmet, his back paws clad in thick work boots.
"If you take certain types of preventive methods, your home will not burn. This is Reddy Squirrel's message," said Dale. "This is a different message to educate people that they have a responsibility as homeowners and that fire is going to happen."
Dale said recent studies by the Forest Service's research branch have shown homeowners can cut the chances their home will burn in a wildfire by up to 95 percent by taking the right steps.
Others say that, while Reddy Squirrel has the right idea, he's taking the wrong tack.
A group of government agencies has developed a Web site to promote what it calls the Fire Use Message, and hopes to take it public soon, said Colin Hardy, a research forester with Missoula Fire Sciences Lab in Missoula, Mont.
The message emphasizes Reddy's ideas about home protection and the importance of natural wildfires, but does so in less strident tones.
"Nobody wants to outright say we can't prevent wildfire, because we can prevent some," said Hardy. "The last thing we want is for people to become more cavalier about their own fires."
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