Help on the home front: win the war
Small text card headed 'Help on the Home Front, WIN THE WAR' with a list of fire-prevention rules (never burn without a permit, stop to smoke, be sure matches are cold, kill small fires). It states that 'Until we smash the Axis, forest fires help the enemy', tying a household act to the war effort. The poster behind the text is faintly visible through the paper.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1475A (NAID 515141).
Text on the object
44 PA-1475A [handwritten] Help on the Home Front WIN THE WAR FOREST, grass, and brush fires divert manpower from war industries and farms; damage and destroy timber and forage. Smoke interferes with training of pilots; invites attacks by subs; helps hide them. Until we smash the Axis, forest fires help the enemy. So-- NEVER BURN to clear land, logging slash, etc., without a permit if laws require one; without scraping or plowing around for safety; without help handy. STOP TO SMOKE in safe places during dry weather. Observe the rules in areas closed to smoking. BE SURE matches, cigarettes, and pipe ashes are cold; that campfires are dead before leaving them. KILL small fires, REPORT OTHERS immediately to the nearest ranger or State fire warden. HELP on the home front to WIN THE WAR-- Prevent Forest, Grass, and Brush Fires M-5275 [imprint: 16-32584-1 GPO] [faint show-through of the poster behind: OUR CARELESSNESS / U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE / STATE]
