Way, way back, in my day, Smokey the Bear was a pretty big icon to kids. Just like that 'Chucky Cheese' rodent is today's reigning idol. Unlike Chucky, Smokey, in costume, came to many SF elementary schools, spreading his famous message; 'only YOU can prevent forest fires!' And before Smoke took off, the Bear handed out  firefighter badges & comic book pamphlets to the class. We thought that was 'HOT!"