Is Smokey Bear's message outdated? That's where Burnie the Bobcat comes in

Step aside Smokey Bear. There’s a new mascot for fire safety in town.

Since 1944, Smokey Bear has been a reminder that “only you can prevent wildfires.” Clad in blue jeans and a ranger hat, Smokey has appeared on billboards, TV commercials and in newspapers for 80 years. That makes Smokey the longest-running public service announcement in U.S. history.

But Emily Schlickman, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental design at the University of California Davis, says that since the role of fire has changed in our environmental landscape, it’s time the mascot does too. Schlickman and her colleague Brett Milligan created Burnie the Bobcat, who already appears on a billboard in California.

“We definitely agree that [Smokey’s] message is still valid,” Schlickman says. “We just wonder if Smokey could use a new friend to really support all of the efforts of good fire.”

Who is Burnie the Bobcat? How did she come about?

“We began thinking about how to get more public buy-in for good fire. And by good fire, I mean intentionally burning landscapes, or simply letting them burn, to maintain healthy ecosystems, to build wildfire resilience, and to support Native cultural practices.

“We thought by giving Smokey a new friend, perhaps that could be one way to get buy-in, but perhaps this new friend could light fires instead of fighting them.

“We created Burnie, we dressed her up in prescribed fire gear, and we put her up on a billboard outside of Sacramento. But we're also considering a host of other characters.

“We have Torchy the Tule Elk. We have Flame the Fox. We have Cinder the Coyote and a couple of others. And what we're doing right now is we really want to get the public's help in voting for a good fire mascot.”

Managing fire is a hot debate in the Western U.S. right now. What effect do you hope this mascot has?

“I think the thing that we're hoping to get out of this is that people start understanding that we have agency in deciding what our future looks like with fire and really getting people to think about ways in which we can steward our landscapes to be better prepared in the face of fire.”

Smokey’s message is that all fire is bad and must be stopped. Has that affected public perception of fire over the years?

“As a result of fire suppression, we have radically changed fire regimes across California.

“In many areas, we're seeing a lot of fuel buildup, which is leading to more catastrophic wildfires that we're seeing today. That on top of climate change, hotter, drier, windier conditions, and the fact that more people are moving to fire-prone locations, is kind of exacerbating all of these risks.”

How does this affect you personally as a professor and trained firefighter living in California?

“I think as with most people living in California, the last 10 years or so have been really, really challenging.

“But I'm now doing prescribed burns. So we burn basically every month in order to not only reduce wildfire risk and bolster healthy ecosystems, but also really importantly, to try to promote these indigenous practices across the state.”

Ashley Locke produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Micaela Rodriguez. Grace Griffin adapted it for the web.