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- Smokey Bear
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- New Mexico Centennial
The story of the little bear cub from Capitan who became a national icon.
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Transcript
He is perhaps the most famous New Mexican of all time. He achieved such huge popularity he was given his own zip code. His catch phrase is well known by every child in America. This is the story of New Mexico’s home-grown hero for forest fire prevention: Smokey Bear.
In the spring of 1950, a large wildfire burned through the Lincoln National Forest. As firefighters made their way through the burnt forest, they found a bear cub clinging to the top of a half-burned tree that he had climbed to escape the flames. Seeing his paws and legs were burnt and that he was separated from his mother, firefighters rescued the cub and nursed him back to health.
Although the National Forrest Service developed the concept of Smokey Bear in 1944, news of the little cub from Capitan quickly spread across the country, and he was officially named Smokey; becoming the living representation of the firefig...
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