The story
From an ad campaign first introduced in 1944 by Foote, Cone and Belding in cooperation with the Forest Service and the Ad Council. The name was inspired by “Smokey” Joe Martin, a New York City Fire Department hero who suffered burns and blindness during a bold 1922 rescue. (Later, in 1950, an actual burned black bear cub was named Smokey and took on this symbolic role.)
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.