First-grade students at Our Lady of Fatima School in New Castle received two special visitors on October 16 – Governor Jack A. Markell and Smokey Bear. The visit was part of the Delaware Forest Service’s annual fire prevention campaign in conjunction with National Fire Prevention Month in October.

Forest Service staff are visiting first-grade students in Delaware’s public and private schools to discuss the many benefits of trees and the need to protect forests from dangerous wildfires. Children are urged to take “Smokey’s pledge” by promising to “never play with matches or fire.” Last year, the highly-successful education program reached 9,399 students through 105 fire education presentations throughout the First State. The “Smokey Bear” fire prevention effort (“Smokey the Bear” is a common misnomer), was established in 1944 and is part of the longest running PSA campaign in U.S. history.

For more information about the Delaware Forest Service’s Smokey Bear Program, contact Ashley Peebles at (302) 698-4551 or ashley.peebles@delaware.gov.

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