June 3 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Pennsylvania forest fire warden system.

To celebrate the milestone, the Carbon County Commissioners adopted a proclamation Thursday naming 2015 as the Year of the Pennsylvania forest fire warden and June 3 as Pennsylvania Forest Fire Warden Day in the county.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein read the proclamation before the board presented it to Smokey Bear, as well as Wesley Keller, forest fire specialist supervisor for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Darryl Brewster, forest fire warden."The men and women serving as Pennsylvania forest fire wardens for the last 100 years under the direction of DCNR Bureau of Forestry, often are the front line of defense in preventing, detecting, investigating and educating against the wildfires that so quickly can devastate the resources, and so often are caused by people," the proclamation states. " ... These men and women ... are properly trained and appointed primarily to detect, extinguish and investigate wildfires."Wardens actively promote fire prevention in their communities, often visiting schools and civic groups; and provide vital assistance to DCNR's Bureau of Forestry in fulfilling its mission of ensuring the long-term health, viability and productivity of the commonwealth's forests and conserving native plants."These fire wardens also are expected to assemble and train a crew of wild land firefighters that is available to respond, under their direction, to wildfires anywhere in the state ... The Commissioners of Carbon County hereby recognize the Pennsylvania forest fire warden's importance and do hereby proclaim 2015: Year of the Pennsylvania forest fire warden and June 3, 2015, Pennsylvania Forest Fire Warden Day. We urge all Pennsylvanians and visitors to assist them in protecting our valuable resources by being meticulously cautious with the use of fire."Brewster thanked the board for recognizing the importance of forest fire wardens.Smokey Bear also gave a thumbs up when asked for his thoughts on the action.