U.S. Forest Service Smokey Bear Collection

The United States Forest Service, in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the Wartime Advertising Council (later called the Advertising Council or Ad Council), organized the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention (CFFP) campaign in 1942. The campaign's aim was to educate Americans about the threat of human-caused wildfires to the country's timber and recreational resources.

The CFFP launched a poster campaign during World War II to promote public awareness and participation in wildfire prevention. The campaign's earliest posters employed patriotic war-related themes to deliver its fire prevention message. In 1943, the Walt Disney Company permitted the CFFP to use forest animal characters from its popular movie Bambi on a poster. The poster proved so successful that the CFFP partners decided to create their own animal mascot to continue the fire prevention campaign. Smokey Bear debuted in the role on August 9, 1944.

Smokey Bear was reportedly named after Joseph B. "Smokey Joe" Martin, who was assistant chief of the New York City Fire Department from 1919 to 1930. Artist Albert Staehle first painted the character of Smokey Bear in 1944. Numerous artists helped develop the character, most notably Rudolph "Rudy" Wendelin, who drew and painted Smokey Bear for the U.S. Forest Service from 1949 until his retirement in 1973. The Advertising Council coined Smokey's famous slogan, "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires!" in 1947.

In 1950, firefighters battling a forest fire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico rescued an injured American black bear cub they found clinging to a tree branch. The cub recovered from his burns and was adopted by the U.S. Forest Service. He was named Smokey and transferred to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where he became the living representative of Smokey Bear and the wildfire prevention campaign. Smokey remained at the zoo until his death in 1976. Goldie, a female bear, was introduced as a potential mate for Smokey in 1962, but the pair never produced offspring. Another fire survivor, a black bear cub named Little Smokey, joined the older bears at the zoo in 1975. He later replaced the original Smokey and lived at the zoo until his death in 1990.

The CFFP campaign is one of the longest-running public service advertising campaigns in the United States, and its symbol, Smokey Bear, is recognized by people around the world.