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How to Build the Ideal Campfire – Part II
In Part I of this series on how to create the ideal campfire, we spent most of our time looking at site preparation and planting a good foundation for the fire. Up to this stage, you should have a neat, shallow, but large hole in the ground surrounded by rocks, as well as a pile of dirt nearby and a bucket of water for fire extinguishing.
In this article, we’ll finally get down to the fire itself, taking advantage of our well-place foundation to make one spectacular (and practical) campfire.
Keep in mind the tools to have handy: A bucket of water, a shovel, matcher/lighter.
First, you’re going to need to gather wood, but before you even do that, you have to know what kind of wood to look for.
Understand the ideal structure of a fire: a lower layer of tinder, such as dry grass or shredded paper, a middle layer of small sticks, and an upper layer of larger wood that will keep you fire going. When you look for wood, you’re going to have to look for all three different types in order to structure your fire properly.
Gather these types of wood, avoiding “alive” limbs and branches as much as possible – they don’t burn as well as dead or “free” wood. Gather more than you think you need, because there’s a good chance you might underestimate how far your wood will stretch.Once you have plenty of each type of wood (you’ll particularly want plenty of small sticks for the middle layer), it’s time to build the structure itself. A tee pee shape is usually recommended, especially if you have longer sticks that can stretch out for a nice, wide fire. This structure allows you to easily pile tinder low and place sticks over it, allowing the wood to rest on other pieces of wood.
This shape is also ideal because it will allow plenty of air for the fire to consume and a natural progression of tinder to wood that makes for a quick-developing, long-lasting fire.
Once you have plenty of tinder and your structure in place, simply light a match or hit a lighter and get your tinder burning well. The fire from your tinder should be in direct contact with the smaller sticks of the next layer, which in turn should start burning and heating the larger logs.
Before you know it, you’ll have a great campfire that burns high, wide, and long! Set a cooking tripod over it for well-cooked hot dogs or find some more branches for roasting marshmellows, and enjoy.
Photo Credits: independentman
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Five Steps for Maintaining a Safe Campfire
It’s not until you see how quickly a fire can spread that you really start to respect the power that fire can have. When a fire grows, it becomes harder to approach it due to the heat. The best way to avoid campfire mishaps is simple: prevention. Preventing any problems from campfires will help you to avoid having to call in the fire department. Here are five steps for maintaining a safe campfire.
Step #1: Dig a proper fire pit. There’s a reason the fire pit is so popular – it works. Digging a fire pit is like installing your own stove in the woods. If you dig a fire pit, you are able to separate the fire from other areas, not to mention keeping the fire at a lower level, which means that you’ll be able to use items to cook over the fire more easily. Make sure that you leave enough room for a little bit of air to flow through the area.
Step #2: Separate the fire pit from regular ground using rocks. Rocks don’t exactly burst out in flames, so they help prevent the flames in your fire from spreading to dry brush around the fire pit area. It also creates a visible barrier that unmistakeably tells other people to avoid that one particular area. Try to wrap the fire area tightly to properly seal it off.Step #3: Don’t add too much wood at once. If you’ve ever been near a fire that has a lot of dry wood to consume, you’ve seen exactly how fast that kind of fire can expand. If you add firewood that expands the fire, it’s common sense that the fire will grow. Sure, there’s a possibility that this will burn down safe and sound later on, but prevention is all about avoiding those dangerous risks.
Step #4: Don’t feed the wood fuel that is bigger than the fire pit. The fire pit is a certain size for a reason. You can build a large fire if you want, but it has to be controlled. If you add large wooden objects that exceed the size fire pit, you’ll see how quickly the original fire pit becomes moot. Don’t do that. Instead, make sure your fire is contained in the area of the fire pit, with a little bit of room in the pit to spare.
Step #5: Keep effective fire-stoppers handy. It’s a good idea to keep a bucket of water and other means of stopping the fire handy, even if you don’t think the fire will get out of control. In case it does, you’ll want to be prepared. Make sure you’re aware of the best ways to put out a fire, and remember that fires need air to survive.
Photo Credits: rudis
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Four Tips for a Solid (And Safe) Campfire
Having a campfire ready at the end of a long day is great; you can lounge with friends, roast marshmellows, and fight off the cold. But how do you make sure you have a campfire that doesn’t constantly need to be poked and prodded – and how to make sure it doesn’t get out of control on you? Here are four tips for having a solid – and safe – campfire on your next trip outdoors.
Tip #1: Build a suitable fire pit. Don’t build a fire on the ground – dig into the earth so that your fire has less exposure to the outside world. The fire pit should leave room for the size of fire you plan on having so that the wood doesn’t “poke out” onto the area near the pit. Make sure the fire pit is in a well-protected area that’s separate from dry brush and other easy-burning materials.
Tip #2: Separate the fire and the surrounding terrain. If your fire gets big enough, it can start burning the grass and brush nearby – that’s a situation you don’t want to have. So make sure that your fire pit is separated from the surrounding terrain from objects that won’t burn: use rocks. Work to make sure the fire is contained within the rocks – if you see a piece of wood in the fire that sticks out over the rocks, keep in mind that embers can drop out of your fire pit.Tip #3: Avoid simply “piling” wood – plan your fire. Once you have a little fire going, avoid the “constant feeding” of your fire simply by piling wood on top of wood. Carefully place your wood to keep the fire contained and stably burning. A great fire that will burn strong and stable without the need for poking and prodding is the “upside-down” or pyramid-style fire. Don’t simply gather sticks and throw them in the pit – use some thought.
Tip #4: Be ready to put the fire out at a moment’s notice. Have some water nearby and be ready to use tools like shovels to contain a fire before it breaks loose. Remember that it’s best to nip a fire in the bud – once it gets large, it becomes very hot and will be harder to put out. You can always start another fire, but it’s hard to put a big one out. Don’t let the fire break through the fire pit.
The more stable and safe your fire is, the better you’ll feel about having a fun, friendly time lounging around it.
Photo Credits: codymcarlson
