Message of 150-foot Bradenton mural: Only you can prevent wildfires

MANATEE -- With his baseball cap turned backward, a gallon of green paint in one hand and a large brush in the other, Matt McAllister put the finishing touches Thursday on a 150-foot-long mural.

McAllister wanted to get the line of trees just right, and put his signature on the mural on Florida Division of Forestry property at 4723 53rd Ave. E.

The mural, one of the longest in Southwest Florida, depicts a helicopter dropping water on out-of-control flames, heavy earth-moving machinery, and Smokey the Bear, among other scenes, with the inscription: Only you can prevent wildfires.

McAllister, whose day job is applying lettering to fire trucks and ambulances for Pierce Manufacturing, painted the mural with brushes and aerosol spray cans after hours and on weekends. Any spare time he could find, so long as the unseasonable rains, which reduced the wildfire threat, but made an artist's life miserable, weren't falling.

Patrick Mahoney, wildfire mitigation specialist for the Division of Forestry, came up with the idea of painting a mural as a way to brighten up a dilapidated wooden fence bordering state property for about 20 years. Mahoney told McAllister what he envisioned for the refurbished fence, and sent him several photographs of the old fence.

McAllister responded with a mural design for the fence, and Mahoney got approval for the project to proceed.

"I worked on this for six to nine months," Mahoney said of efforts to get the project started.

The mural is so long motorists won't be able to take it all in as they pass the Division of Forestry property and its iconic observation tower.

But the 48,278 cars and trucks that pass by daily will at least get a flash of color and a portion of Smokey's admonition to prevent wildfires.

USA Fence donated the wood and The Home Depot donated the paint.

James A. Jones Jr., East Manatee reporter, can be contacted at 941-745-7053 or on Twitter@jajones1.

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Message of 150-foot Bradenton mural: Only you can prevent wildfires ."