Campfire Basics

Campfire Basics

Campfire Basics

Campfire Basics are simple to understand guidelines that when followed, can promote camping safety around your campsite.

Throw your firewood into a pile douse it with gasoline and you won't be roasting any marshmallows on your campfire anytime soon. But you might get lots of sympathy from the burn unit of the hospital near your campsite simply by not practicing safety around your campfire.

A proper campfire requires a little planning and a little work. The main ingredients to campfire basics are:

Selecting the site for your firepit

Building the firepit

Building your fire

Putting out the fire

Selecting the location-

Find an area at least 20 feet clear of trees (and hopefully your tent) on soft earth for your firepit. Make sure you also have at least 10 to 20 feet vertical clearance from branches for good measure. Lastly, make sure there are no roots or other nearby vegetation that could catch fire later.

Building the firepit-

With a shovel, dig a 3 foot diameter circle about 3 inches deep. Place all the dirt arount the circumference of this circle and form a 4 to 6 inch wide ring with the dirt. Now place rocks approx. football size or slightly smaller on top of the dirt ring and build a tiered rock wall. The minimum total height of the wall will be about 10 to 12 inches(includes the dirt ring height) above the ground.

Building the fire-

Start with a handful of twigs the diameter of a pencil and about 6 to 8 inches long. Crumple 2 to 3 sheets of newspaper into a ball and place in the center of the pit. Place the twigs slightly into the ground in a teepee (pyramid) fashion around the paper. If you will be cooking using charcoal briquettes, place 2 to 3 dozen of them now around the twigs. Squirt a small amount of lighter fluid on the briquettes and paper now and do not reapply.

Now using sticks/branches 1 to 2 inches in diameter and about 1 foot long, place them in a teepee shape around the briquettes. Use the soft earth to anchor a couple of them so the shape will support itself.

If the winds are calm and you are sure it is safe to start the fire, touch off the paper in a couple of places and the fire will start evenly. This should be done only by adults and not children.

Putting out the fire-

Remove any unburnt wood from the fire, but make sure it isn't smouldering on any point of it. Now, with a gallon bucket or hose, fill up the fire pit until the water is up to the level of the bottom of the rock wall. Stir the ashes to make sure all coals are out.

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