JERSEY SHORE — Smokey Bear will celebrate his 82nd birthday with a helicopter flight along the New Jersey coastline Sunday, August 9.
Smokey is scheduled to fly aboard a New Jersey Forest Fire Service Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, commonly known as a “Huey,” while waving to beachgoers from Wildwood Crest to Asbury Park.
A banner plane carrying a “Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear” message will lead the coastal flight.
The trip is expected to begin over Wildwood Crest at about 1:45 p.m. before heading north along the shoreline.
The birthday flight is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Poor weather would postpone the event until Sunday, Aug. 16.
Smokey Bear has promoted wildfire prevention for generations through the familiar message, “Only you can prevent wildfires.”
