Smokey Bear to promote fire prevention, reading

Jul. 9—SANDY LAKE — Eighty years ago, the U.S. Forest Service created a campaign to help spread awareness in Wildfire Prevention.

In the campaign, officials created a cartoon character to help promote a fire prevention message to kids, and just like that Smokey Bear was born.

While his role is preventing fires, he has an added role at the Lakeview Area Public Library: encouraging reading.

According to the Smithsonian Archives, the mascot gained popularity in 1950 when a real bear in New Mexico was badly burned after a forest fire. After surviving against the odds and being nursed back to health, the bear was brought to the Smithsonian Museum, where he was given a permanent home. Here, he became the real life Smokey Bear and the nation fell in love with him ever since.

To help celebrate Smokey's birthday, the Lakeview library is hosting a "Smokey Bear Summer Reading Challenge," where students will be challenged with reading books related to wildfires and learning about forest safety and fire prevention.

The challenge can be found on the libraries Beanstack app, or at its website, lakeviewarealibrary.org. The challenge will have readers read specific books or complete simple activities. Once all activities are complete, the reader can earn a prize.

The event kicks off on July 23 with Goddard State Park educator Megan McDowell and, of course, Smokey Bear, coming to help teach kids about wildfire safety.

McDowell will begin the day with a short educational lesson, and a fire engine from Sandy Lake will be brought in for the kids to see. After that, the kids will participate in a water bucket relay race to put out a fire. Then Smokey will make his appearance riding on a brush truck while kids sing Happy Birthday for him.

Kids will hear a Smokey Bear book reading and have a photo time with Smokey. Afterward, children will receive a certificate with their name and a goodie bag filled with a comic book, fidget toy, balloon, pins, pens and other information things.

"It's important for kids to understand how quickly a brush fire is able to start and spread. Kids often do things because it's fun without thinking of the next step," Katelyn Struthers, library director, said. "Last year, Sandy Lake had a fire start and got pretty big because someone tried to burn cardboard. We want to help kids see the next step."

The challenge will run until Nov. 1 to give kids time to finish after their usual summer reading. Prizes for finishing the challenge have yet to be set, though Struthers, a firefighter with Jackson Center Volunteer Fire Company, said she is hoping to keep the prizes on theme.

She suggested, though she didn't make a final decision, fire alarms, fire retardant blankets, at home fire extinguishers and a Smokey Bear book as well as gift cards and other small prizes.

"This started as just a little program, but we have quickly turned this into something I think kids can be really excited for and have fun," Struthers said. "I hope to keep this energy and fun with our reading challenges and other projects."

Ty Kohler can be contacted at [email protected].