Madeleine Coles

Life Editor

Many people can remember learning all about Smokey the Bear and how to prevent fires. The Idaho Museum of Natural History invite people to relive those days at the opening of a new exhibit, Living with Fire.

The opening, which occurred Nov. 12, featured a fire engine visitors could interact with outside, as well as some members of the Bureau of Land Management (who partnered with the museum to bring this exhibit to life), including Cory Berkebile, a fire operations specialist for the Idaho Falls district of the BLM.

“We’re just out here trying to spread the word on defendable spaces and how to minimize wildfires,” Berkebile said, adding that they wanted to inform both parents and their children about the dangers of fire and how to prevent it.

Once inside the museum, visitors can see the exhibit itself, which Becky O’Neill, education specialist for the museum, said took approximately eight months to complete.

The exhibit begins with information about “The Big Burn,” a massive fire in 1910 that killed over 70 people and, according to O’Neill, was the catalyst for funding for the forest service and firefighting in general.

It also features multiple displays about fire ecosystem ecology, which discuss the good and bad of natural fires. The exhibit focuses specifically on Idaho’s ecosystem, displaying the way things like cheatgrass can affect forest fires using an experiment with matches.

This is just one example of the way the exhibit focuses on fires in Idaho and brings the discussion closer to home.

In regards to the cheatgrass display, O’Neill said they “really wanted to tell that story because that destroys sagebrush habitat, raising for ranchers and things like that.”

In addition to the science behind fires, the exhibit features multiple displays about firefighting, including all of the tools and equipment that firefighters use.

Visitors can even put on the weighted vest that firefighters must wear to pass their endurance test.

Another interactive display features video interviews with different types of firefighters in the Pocatello and Idaho Falls area, including an interview with Berkebile about the Charlotte fire in 2012.

Further down, another display informs visitors about reproductive programs for destructive fires.

“At ISU we actually do a lot of fire science, and with INL and the local agencies in the region we do a lot of fire recovery, so we wanted to have a display about different programs to reclaim the land after a fire,” O’Neill said.

Another forensics display shows visitors how the simplest of things, such as unmaintained train breaks, can cause massive amounts of fire damage.

Near the end of the exhibit is a memorial display to honor firefighters who have died in Idaho ranging from 1910 to 2015.

The exhibit ends with Smokey the Bear doing what he does best: teaching children about fire prevention.

According to O’Neill, the museum decided to feature an exhibit about fire because of its wide-reaching effect in Idaho, as well as the versatility of the topic.

“Being a natural history museum, we’re really interested in the natural sciences, but we’re also interested in history and anthropology and the human factors,” O’Neill said. “We thought fire, since it is such a big deal in Idaho, would really fit with our mission to not only talk about science and nature, but to connect people as well. And to give credit where credit is due to firefighters in our state.”

The exhibit will run until Sept. 2017.