Prevent Your Campfire Flames from Spreading

Series Summary

Low impact camping is a rule in certain camping areas of National Parks throughout the United States. Low impact campers strive to cause the least negative effects on the wilderness they are enjoying. Low impact camping includes traveling in smaller groups, using duller colors for camping equipment, not camping on moss or near water, and creating a campfire that will not scorch the organic material in the soil, or the rocks that surround the fire. Creating a campfire is an essential part of camping and can be done in a low impact way that will ensure the area will be beautiful and primitive for the next camper. If you would like to learn how to build a low impact campfire, learn for free, online, from one of our experts.

In this free online video series, learn from expert outdoor guide, Bruce Lessels as he demonstrates how to build and light a campfire using low impact techniques. Learn how to gather fuel for a low impact campfire, how to clear the camping area for a campfire, how to build a campfire, how to light a campfire, how to cook and make s'mores on a campfire, and how to properly put out a campfire.

Video Transcript

" Hi, this is Bruce Lessels from Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com. We’re going to talk about making a campfire and taking down a campfire and campfire safety. A campfire can be one of the most enjoyable parts about camping outdoors and being in the outdoors in general. But you want to make sure that it doesn’t become a hazard to either you or to the forest or to other people around you. So a bunch of ways to do that; number one is think about where you setup your campfire, set it up in a nice open area where there’s not a lot of burnables around and where there’s plenty of room for the campfire for flames to leap out of the fire a little bit and not do damage to the forest, not start a fire. You want to also to make sure that people stay a good distance away from the fire, there’s a temptation when it’s cool at night and the fire is nice and warm to move closer and closer into the fire but a lot of people when they’re camping are wear synthetic such as I am. You know synthetic fleece or synthetic or nylon jackets and those are very flammable, so if a flame does or a spark does leap up onto someone’s jacket it can cause a fire and that can be a real major hazard. So be careful with that as well and finally make sure that your campfire is not so big that it gets out of control, keep it nice and contained. A good way to do that is if there’s already a fire pit with rocks containing it, that’s a good way to do it, if you have a fire pan or some other method to keep your fire contained that’ll keep it from becoming a hazard to you, to the camp, to the forest and other campers."