How to Build Campfire Pits
Campfires were originally built out of necessity. They provide warmth on cold nights as well as a way to cook food. Today, campfires are still used for these purposes by those who choose to camp outside, away from the modern conveniences of a heater and stove. They also provide a place for people to gather together and share stories. As nice as a campfire is when you are camping, it is important to know the proper way to build a campfire pit to help prevent unwanted forest fires. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Choose a place to build your campfire pit. The location should be a minimum of 3 yards away from any flammable objects, such as your tent or trees.
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Clear the area around your intended campfire pit location. Remove any debris, such as dried grass, leaves or wood. Organic material can catch fire but, by removing it, you help prevent unwanted fires. Clear all debris within a 10-foot radius of your campfire location.
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3
Use a shovel to make a hole where you intend to set up your campfire. The hole should be approximately 1 foot deep and 3 feet wide.
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Line the outside of your hole with rocks. This will help contain the fire.
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Line the inside of your hole with tinder. Tinder is any small twigs or dried leaves and pine needles. Choose tinder that is old and free of moisture and avoid living wood.
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Add kindling to your hole on top of the tinder. Kindling is larger than tinder. This would be any twigs or branches which are no more than 1 inch in diameter.
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Light your tinder on fire. Use a match or lighter to ignite the tinder. This will in turn ignite the kindling. Dispose of your match in the fire itself. Never throw your match on the ground.
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Feed your fire. Add tinder, kindling and firewood to the fire as needed.
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Tips & Warnings
Always keep a bucket of water nearby. This will allow you to extinguisher your fire as necessary. It also helps in the case of errant sparks, which ignite fires outside of your campfire pit.
Keep your firewood, tinder and kindling away from the fire pit when you are not feeding the fire.
Never leave a fire unattended.
References
- Photo Credit Campfire image by Undy from Fotolia.com
