The U.S. Forest Service– with Southern California Edison, City of LA, LA County Parks, California State Parks, and the Corps Network — are celebrating Smokey Bear’s 75th birthday and Smokey’s vital fire safety messages to youth and their families across Southern California.

The campaign will feature a unique outreach strategy enabling participants to play a customized, augmented reality educational game or “Mission”.

To play Smokey Bear’s Birthday Mission, players download the FREE Agents of Discovery app on Google Play or the App Store, click on “Smokey Bear’s 75th Birthday Mission”, and scan images of Smokey to unlock Smokey’s messages.

No WiFi connectivity is required to play the Mission. Created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history, educating generations of Americans about their role in preventing wildfires.

As one of the world’s most recognizable characters, Smokey’s image is protected by U.S. federal law and is administered by the USDA Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters and the Ad Council.

Despite the campaign’s success over the years, wildfire prevention remains one of the most critical issues affecting our country.

Smokey’s message is as relevant and urgent today as it was in 1944.

Wildfires are unplanned and are very dangerous to people who use the forests and outdoor areas or live in nearby homes and communities.

With climate change getting progressively worse, wildfires are more likely to occur and hence educating youth about wildfire prevention and how we can collectively prevent such an event is critical.

In order to engage youth in learning more about wildfire prevention through Smokey Bear’s dedicated message, the Forest Service, along with its partners, has organized a campaign to educate youth in SoCal about wildfire safety in celebration of Smokey Bear’s 75th birthday.

The Smokey Bear Birthday “Missions” will also be available for the public to play in LA County, City of LA and California State Parks until May 1, 2020.