Campfire Safety

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by Sofia Baum




Campfires are incredibly useful as they provide the means to cook, stay warm, and create the perfect setting for many joyous occassions. With this enjoyment comes responsibility. Campfire safety is extremely important in preserving our natural areas as nine out of 10 wildfires are human caused. In 2017, the Eagle Creek Fire set aflame 50,000 acres of the Columbia Gorge and stranded 140 hikers. This wildfire was caused by negligence and could have been prevented.

If you are planning on enjoying the outdoors with a campfire soon, and need to know more about campfire safety, here are the top 7 steps you need to know:
  1. Check Rules and Conditions: Contact your parks visitor's center or look online for any campfire restrictions, burn bans, or weather-related rules. Check conditions of your destination area. If it's dry and windy, the likelihood of wildfires increase. 
  2. Check the Area: Make sure flammable objects, tents, shrubs, and trees are at least 15 ft away. Watch out for low-hanging branches and utilize existing fire rings or fire pits. 
  3. Prepare your Pit: If you are building or rebuilding a pit ensure that you dig your pit about a food deep into the ground and circle the pit with rocks. 
  4. Prepare your Materials: Gather tinder, kindling, and fuel. Don't cut down live or dead trees. Live trees won't burn and dead trees are home to wildlife.
    1. Tinder: finely divided, open material such as small twigs, dry leaves, needles, and grass
    2. Kindling: sticks less than 1 in
    3. Fuel: large pieces of wood
  5. Build your Fire: Have water and a shovel nearby at all times. Pile tinder at the center of the fire pit and stack your kindling. Formations such as teepee and lean-to are best for cooking. Cross and pyramid are best for long-lasting fires. Light your tinder, add more tinder as fire grows, blow at base to give the fire more oxygen, and add kindling and fuel. 
  6. Maintain your Fire: Keep fire small and controlled. Don't burn aerosol cans, aluminum cans, or pressurized containers as these items can explode, shatter material, and create harmful fumes. Never leave campfire unattended and always supervisor pets and children around fire. 
  7. Extinguish your Fire: Extinguish the campfire before going to sleep by drowning the fire with water, stirring with a shovel, pilling dirt to fully douse, and feeling materials with the back of your hand to ensure smoldering has stopped. 



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