Passage During World War II when many experienced firefighters were called to duty, local communities had to deal with forest fires on their own. This situation led to a national campaign to prevent fires caused by human carelessness, and to the creation of the character Smokey Bear (contrary to popular belief it's not Smokey the Bear). The campaign has been successful -since its inception, the average area lost annually to forest fires has dropped from 22 million to 4 million acres. Question What assumption does the author of the passage make? Fighting forest fires was not a priority during World War II. Human carelessness is the cause of every forest fire The decrease in forest fires is a result of the Smokey Bear campaign. Communities will soon have to fight forest fires on their own again.