Smokey Bear will celebrate his 75th birthday this Friday

Since 1944, Smokey Bear has been a fire prevention ambassador. This Friday he will celebrate his 75th birthday.

To celebrate travel size Smokey has been traveling around the Bureau of Land Management’s Idaho Falls district which covers 3.7 million acres, reminding everyone he meets about the importance of fire prevention.

According to the BLM, eastern Idaho has had 47 wildfires this season.

“In eastern Idaho, almost 60% of our fires are human-caused, across the nation it’s almost as high as ninety percent. So this is a big concern because as we see wildfires are a real threat to the west, so one less wildfire will really help us out,” said BLM Fire Prevention Officer, Kelsey Griffee.

At first, Smokey Bear was going to be named Hot Foot Teddy.