Where to Build a Campfire

Series Summary

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity in which the participants, known as campers, leave civilization behind and enjoy nature while spending one or more nights at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, a primitive structure, or no shelter at all. Camping as a recreational activity became popular in the early 20th century, and many campers frequent national parks, other publicly owned natural areas, and privately owned campgrounds. Camping may be its own activity, but it's commonly done in conjunction with other activities, such as hiking, swimming, and fishing. Whether it's the dead of winter or the dog days of summer, a campsite almost always requires a fire for cooking, warmth, light, or simply to scare off some wild animals. In this free video series, an Eagle Scout will demonstrate how to build a campfire from picking out an area to arranging kindling and sparking a flame. With these tips and techniques, any camper will be able to start their own campfire and keep it going through the night.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is John Stewart, and this is how to select an area for building a fire. When you build a fire, you want to build it on flat ground. This is so you have the nice stable area to set your fire up, and build the fire ring around it. You don't want to put it on a hill. In that case, you might have logs that are burning; they might take off down the hill, and escape, so you want to make sure you have a flat, stable surface to build your fire around. You want to make sure that you build your fire near a water source. This is key in case you have a accident where the fire gets out. But most importantly, so that you have water to actually put the fire out once you're done using it. So make sure you're near water, to where you can transport the water to the fire. Thirdly, you want to look for a open area in the trees. This is key, so that when the smoke from the fire rises, it has a place to escape. If you have an real high vegetation area in the trees, to where the smoke can't build escape, the smoke will build up all on your campsite, and it will just be miserable for you and your other campers; having to breathe smoke and all that. So make sure you have an open area in the trees so that the smoke can escape. Lastly, try and build your fire off the beaten path. This is so that you don't have it near paths of animals, other campers, because animals and stuff like that will be naturally drawn to your fire, and so you want to be off the beaten path from them. So look for animal tracks, and make sure you put it away from them. And this is how you select an area for building a fire."