 In the early seventies, wildfires stretched the ability of the fire service to deal with the destruction of life and property. Again, in the eighties, wildfires continued to devastate the country. And the nineties brought wildfires of tremendous size. These fires destroyed whole communities, devastated local economies, and took hundreds of lives. Does this sound like recent fire seasons? Actually, this is what was happening in the late 1800s, over 100 years ago. Even as early as the 1800s, it became obvious that there was a need to provide wildfire prevention programs. Copying Indian practices, frontiersmen and later tourists rarely extinguished their fires. One frontiersman in the 1800s recounted his escaped campfire by saying, in five minutes from the first alarm, we were reduced from a well-mounted force to a half-mounted, dilapidated party. In 1871, the Great Pestigo Fire burned over 1,280,000 acres and covered 2,400 square miles. The result of numerous fires set by farmers clearing fields, along with Indians and trappers, lighting warming and cooking fires during drought conditions. Between 1871 and 1881 in Michigan, two fires burned over 3,500,000 acres and killed 369 people. Between 1894 and 1918, three separate fires in Minnesota burned 1,740,000 acres and killed 998 people. In 1889 and 1990, the problem of wandering tourists and escaped campfires became so acute that the Army established campgrounds in Yellowstone Park and did not allow campfires outside of those areas. The concept worked so well that the Forest Reserves adopted these rules, with the additional requirement that all forest visitors carry an axe, shovel and bucket to extinguish their fires. Fire laws had been passed by this time, but were not strictly enforced. In fact, in 1890, one fellow wrote that the entire fire problem in the United States was one of bad habits and loose morals. Some people did have a conscience. During the fire season of 1890, the Audigate Brothers started a fire and believing that fire laws were enforced and punishable by death, they opted for suicide and shot themselves. They were discovered two days later, though, still alive. In 1905, the Forest Protection Act was passed by Congress, and soon after that, the first National Fire Prevention Day was proclaimed. The 1910 fires in Montana and Idaho burned 3,000,000 acres in two days, destroying entire communities and taking 85 lives. 72 of the lives lost were firefighters battling the blazes. People began to wake up to the need for fire laws and fire prevention and protection. Forestry in America in the early days was concerned about fire prevention, and the forester's chief goal was to protect the timber harvest. Prevention tools consisted primarily of signs to advise the forest users of their responsibility. In 1919, the Army Air Corps volunteered its services, and patrols with an Army pilot and observer began. The idea was tested on two national forests, and was so popular that other areas began to use it. In the early years, fire prevention programs were directed toward educating the public about the dangers of indiscriminate burning and escaped campfires. As late as the 1930s, there was a disregard for the people who were trying to protect natural resources. The 30s and 40s proved that there were indications that our wildlands were becoming a shrinking treasure. Fire prevention became a national issue, all due to the need to protect the timber resource. The railroads and timber companies became allies in this protection effort. In 1932, the first report dealing with spark arrestors on motorized equipment was released. This report and the increasing number of fires from motorized equipment led the San Dimas Experiment Station to establish the first spark arrestor standards. The first report on locomotive spark arrestors was released in 1934, but federal regulations would not go into effect until 1978, 44 years later. State laws were beginning to be established, but few were enforced. San Dimas is still the cornerstone for spark arrestor research. As we entered the Depression era, other changes were taking place. Forestry employees were coming from the CCCs and were now responsible for a host of duties in resource management. It was not uncommon to find these folks working the front desks and serving as fire lookouts, as well as handling signing and other fire prevention tasks. These employees were jacks of all trades and were used with pride for many years. It was about this time that a study was undertaken to test the value of education concerning the still out of control woods burning habits. The problem was serious, because Stockman, outraged at burning restrictions, set so many fires in one county that they exhausted the suppression forces and nearly caused bankruptcy. Determined to rally pro-sentiment nationwide, the fire agencies began to listen to suggestions from employees and emotional pictures for fire prevention began. In 1939, President Roosevelt and members of his staff reviewed a poster showing a forest ranger who looked a lot like Uncle Sam, pointing to a raging forest fire saying, Your forest, your fault. Probably one of the best posters of the time. On the eve of World War II, fire protection posters equating fire prevention with national defense began. So it was the war that finally nationalized fire prevention programs. Fire prevention focused high priority on the importance of timber products. After all, many things needed for the war effort came from our natural resources. Incendiary fire became equal to sabotage and woods arson fires were investigated by the FBI. An employee of a national forest conceived the idea of seeking assistance from a national advertising agency for a wartime fire prevention campaign. In the spring of 1942, a nerve-tingling event occurred very close to home. A Japanese submarine surfaced near the coast of Southern California and fired a salvo of shells that exploded an oil facility near Santa Barbara. It was felt further attacks could bring a disastrous loss of life and destruction of property. There was also a fear that exploding shells and incendiary balloons launched by the Japanese in the timber stands of the Pacific coast could set off raging forest fires. With the country at war, most of the experienced firefighters and able-bodied men had gone to the armed forces. The home communities had to deal with forest fires as best they could. If people could be urged to be more careful, perhaps some fires could be prevented. Careless matches aid the Axis and our carelessness their secret weapon. We're catchy phrases suggesting that people themselves could prevent fires and help win the war. So the newly formed wartime advertising council took on the task and now professional advertising talent was mobilized behind fire prevention. Because of that effort, the CFFP program, Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention, was established and is still in place today. But field fire prevention work almost came to a standstill as men were sent off to war. People in the wildlands had very little contact from agency personnel. This made it even more important to utilize this national advertising effort. Person caused fires during this time were due to smoking, railroads and careless burning. If an agency had someone in the field, they were lucky. Usually a unit had one field person and they would be in the field for months at a time. They patrolled heavily used roads, made contacts in campgrounds and relied on signing. These employees were the rangers. They did everything. Fire prevention, trail maintenance, signing and they fought fires. The end of World War II saw the need for the advertising council to promote a happier theme for fire prevention and so obtained the rights from Walt Disney to use Bambi to promote fire prevention. Using animals was a great success so the idea of the bear was born. Smoky, named after a fireman in New York, wore blue jeans and a hat to typify the outdoor type. The first Smoky Bear poster appeared in 1944. In 1947 the slogan, remember only you can prevent forest fires was introduced. In 1947 Smoky came to radio through the voice of Jackson Weaver, a noted radio personality in Washington D.C. In 1948 Rudy Wendolin, after a tour of duty in the Navy, returned to the Forest Service and produced the Smoky Bear as we know him today. With the end of the war men were returning to their jobs and with more people available more action could zero in on the major fire prevention problems such as locomotive and equipment fires, escaped campfires and other causes. Railroad inspections were done in those days but there were no federal laws and few state laws. However during extreme fire danger a patrol might follow a train to extinguish any fire that may occur. Burning permits were required in those days but very few people bothered to get them. We were a nation brought up on burning to clear fields just as Native Americans had used fire to increase forage and wildlife habitat. The 1950s saw increased building in and around the wildlands. Increased use by a growing population began to become a major consideration for wild fire prevention specialists. Some areas were actually able to employ fire prevention specialists to make public contacts. This type of activity seemed to work well. In 1950 an important event took place in fire prevention history. A small bear cub was rescued from a forest fire on the Lincoln National Forest. Early in July the cub was flown to Washington to become the living symbol of forest fire prevention. By 1952 the Smokey Bear symbol was well established and the Smokey Bear Act was approved by Congress and signed by President Eisenhower. In those days there were no Smokey Bear costumes. The first costume was made by Rudy Wendell and his wife Carol in their kitchen. Smokey participated in numerous major events in those days such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rose Parade and he even had his own weekly television series. There were very few school programs and it was still normal for railroad companies, power line companies and industrial agencies to self-enforce regulations. These agencies looked to the fire service as experts and were generally cooperative. In the 1950s there was no formalized fire prevention training and everything was learned on the job. It was at this time that children playing with matches surfaced as a priority cause and resulted in the implementation of the National Junior Forest Ranger Program. Smokey also devoted a children's theme poster to this problem on an annual basis. The 1960s showed a more organized approach to wildfire prevention. Conferences, training, inspection procedures, codes and ordinances began to evolve to support field fire prevention operations nationwide. In the mid-1960s the Western Media Office of the Forest Service developed a major public relations program that assisted fire prevention efforts for several years. The deal was made to incorporate a forest ranger into the Lassie TV program. So Corey Stewart began his career with the first episode filmed in 1964. In the following years the Forest Service worked closely with the series providing equipment and technical support. Ranger Stewart, actor Bob Bray, was supplied a standard uniform but had patches on both sleeves for easy TV identification. Bray completed the smoke jumper training but because of liability reasons could not make an actual jump. Fire prevention studies were conducted to determine the effectiveness of fire prevention signing. The study established what are today the fundamentals of fire prevention signs, size, color, shape, graphics and messages. School programs and team teaching began to increase and these programs began to have a positive effect on incidents involving children with matches. A poll taken in 1968 showed that the fire prevention message was getting out. 90% of all people could identify Smokey and his fire prevention message. The 1970s continued to enhance wildfire prevention. Better planning was increasing funding. Fire management on a national basis was the key phrase, not fire control. Alternative suppression action was now considered on fires. Fire prevention committees were being formed. National fire prevention training was conducted, developed as part of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. San Dimas was developing chainsaw standards for spark arresters and the spark arrester guide was developed. The 1970s saw creative fire prevention programs working. Railroad inspections and residential fire safe programs were implemented. Industrial operations were inspected and children caused fires were on the decline. In 1975 the original Living Smokey Bear symbol passed on. This is the 1975 poster where he indicates thanks for all the help. Even with all the effective programs, the end of the 70s came down hard on fire prevention. Funding was decreased dramatically. The early 80s set the stage for some great changes that were about to take place. In 1983 came the idea of Smokey and the Pros. This program utilized athletes as role models to help Smokey convince people of all ages to be fire safe. Smokey and the Pros was the cornerstone of interagency nationwide wildfire prevention programs of the 80s. This program provided for fire prevention events and materials with Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, National Auto Racing programs, the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association, Soccer at all levels, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. In the 1980s major fires, both lightning and person cause, devastated the United States. The positive element to come from all that destruction was the establishment of National Wildfire Prevention Planning Guidelines by the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The future will need new and creative programs to take wildfire prevention into the 21st century and make fire prevention a foundation of fire protection.