An interview with the No. 1 advocate for wildfire prevention, celebrating his 75th birthday this year
Congratulations on celebrating your (Aug. 9)! Whats been your favorite part of the festivities?
The best part about celebrating this big birthday year has been seeing how many people care about preventing wildfires. Its great to see so many people stepping up to remind their friends that, . Im over the moon (just dont say Im over the hill). Oh, and the cake! Who doesnt love a good, candle-free birthday cake?
As the , how has your communication style evolved to promote fire safety?
When youve , people might think youre a bit old school. But, believe me, you can teach an old bear new tricks! I used to think a tweet was just an excited message from my pal, . Now, I have more than 400,000 social media friends on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram who help me spread my wildfire prevention message every day. Remember, Im just a bear standing in front of humans asking them to help him prevent wildfires. #OnlyYou can follow me @SmokeyBear on and (@Smokey_Bear on ).
Whats the most difficult part of your job?
Texting with bear paws. Someday theyll invent a bear paw-sized keyboard. A bear can dream, right? Also, theres no Wi-Fi in the forest, but that doesnt really matter. I always have a better connection to what truly matters there: reminding people about their responsibility to be safe around fire and the unique ways that unplanned fires start each day.
Youre a bear of fewalbeit iconicwords. What else do you like to talk about?
I could talk about wildfire prevention all day. And I do! No surprise then that Ive been saying, Only you can prevent wildfires, for so long. Next to Santas, Ho, Ho, Ho, I think I hold the record for talking about the same topic for the longest timeimagine what a great dinner guest Id be.
Are you friends with any other celebrity bears?
He may not be 100% ursine, but is a good friend and lover of the outdoors. Were such good buds that he even stepped in to help tell millions of Americans about why wildfire prevention is so important. If theres ever a direct way to my heart and holiday card list, thats surely it.
How many hats and shovels have you gone through in your lifetime?
In my lifetime, I have gone through far too many shovels to countthey make putting out campfires a cinch! And as for my hat, well, we all know its my favorite accessory, so its safe to say Ive always had a few spares. Ive even loaned out a few. Its okay, , you can keep it.
Julian Zeng is omni-channel content manager at the 蹤獲扦夥厙. He may be reached at jzeng@ama.org.