Smokey Bear taken from fire sign
The people of Springdale, Wash., are in danger, and there’s no one to warn them.
A warm east wind is drying out the forest around Springdale, but Smokey Bear can’t spread the word that the fire danger is rising. Someone has kidnapped him.
Two 6-foot-tall aluminum Smokeys, one on each side of the fire-danger sign in downtown Springdale, were reported missing Wednesday.
The big sign in the park next to the Springdale Town Hall just isn’t the same without Smokey’s authoritative presence. Who would trust a fire-danger sign that isn’t backed by the venerable bruin’s 60 years of experience?
That’s right, Smokey is 60 this year. He may be a thick-skinned public servant, but abducting the king of fire prevention and taping him to a bedroom wall is a lousy way to wish him a happy birthday.
“Worse yet would be somebody who just wants to take him out for target practice, but hopefully it’s not that,” said Steve Harris, fire prevention coordinator for the northeastern region of the state Department of Natural Resources.
Springdale Police Chief Brenton Thielen is investigating, but so far there are no leads and no suspects.
The anxiety is starting to wear on Harris.
“We’re bumping up the fire danger, and we need to get the word out,” Harris said. “We need our bear.”
Harris said he has no money to replace the Smokey signs, valued at $100 apiece, and the best reward he can offer is a Smokey Bear ball cap and some other Smokey paraphernalia.
There’s hope, though.
Cheney’s version of Smokey went missing last October, and Harris eventually came up with the idea of appealing for help in Eastern Washington University’s campus newspaper, the Easterner. The day after a story was published in January, authorities got an anonymous call directing them to a spot in the woods where Smokey was found unharmed except for duct tape on his back.
Harris hopes for the same no-questions-asked outcome in Springdale.
“We just want him back,” Harris said. “We’ve got fire season coming up.”
Anyone with information on Smokey’s whereabouts is asked to call the Department of Natural Resources at (509) 684-7474 or the Springdale police office at 258-4520.