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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
