Finding a more “summertime” activity might be impossible than sitting around at a campfire in a state park or the beach at sunset.
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Make a campfire, enjoy the fun of making s’mores, and share ghost stories around a roaring fire if you know how to build one. It might look easy to start a fire, but problems like wet matches or strong winds can ruin your s’mores. You can be the campfire master on your next summer camping trip with just a few simple skills and tools. This will help ensure everyone stays outside until the sun goes down.
Things you’ll need
Foraging for sticks around your spot is usually a good idea, but you need a more detailed plan to build a campfire than that. You’ll need a few simple things to make your campfire.
- Kindling: Kindling is small wood that burns quickly and should help your more extensive logs catch fire.
- Logs and more significant pieces of wood: Ensure you have enough logs to burn. While you’re looking for logs in the woods, you want to keep your fire from going out. It would help if you never left a campfire unchecked.
- A device that starts fires: For most people, this means matches or a lighter. Others may prefer to use flint or something that can be used repeatedly. If you take matches, put them in a container that won’t leak. Having things in your camp kit like the Fuel Free Lighter and the Mag Striker with Tinder Cord can be helpful.
- A flammable thing near light: Most people use this to build a fire in a hearth. But you shouldn’t use artificial materials outside or burn anything that gives off harmful chemicals, so choose natural cotton or used coffee grounds. These things light up much faster than wood and help you make a big fire on your first try.
Different ways to build a campfire
There is no exact science to building a fire, but there are some tried-and-true ways to get it going quickly. The best way to make a campfire for first-time campers is the Log Cabin or Pyramid method. No matter your method, “”Always start small with your tinder and work your way up to bigger things,” says Kori Dickinson who works for Adventure Ready Brands and volunteers for Search and Rescue in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Also, remember to be patient. You can add more extensive logs once the medium-sized ones catch fire.
The Pyramid Method is the best-known and fastest way to do it. Put the firewood and fire starters in the middle. Then, stack the remaining logs around it in a pyramid or cone shape, ensuring the tops of the logs rest against each other. In the middle, put your smaller sticks and kindling. On the outside, put your more extensive logs.
- The Method of the Log Cabin: Put your wood and fire starter in the middle and build a square around it with four logs. Put the logs back together in a square shape as if you were making a traditional log cabin. The outside logs can take a while to get really hot in this kind of fire. You can make this a little different by building in a triangle instead of a square, creating a small pyramid-shaped fire in the middle, or using one big log to make a “wall” on one side, which can help protect the fire when it’s windy.
- Keep Your Fire Going: Is your fire going less than you’d like it to? Eric Larson has been on polar expeditions and is an experienced trip guide. He knows how to make sure your fire is roaring. “Many fires go out when the bottom logs burn out, and the fire gets “cold.” Keep the logs together while leaving room for air as the fire burns. Often, this means lining up the bottom logs so they are parallel to each other to keep more heat in. There may need to be more room between the logs at the bottom for the new logs on top to catch fire.
Larson says that fires go out so fast because people tend to watch them too much. “Don’t play too much poker,” he tells her. “Push some logs together and add new logs on top in a crisscross pattern.” If the fire is hot enough, it can burn anything. But it will only burn a little if it gets spread out and cold.
When choosing logs, it’s easier to catch dry wood, but it burns faster. You could switch between recently fallen You can get the best of both worlds by cutting and bundling wood.
Methods to Put Out a Campfire
Make a campfire not a secret that lots of water puts out fires. Materials blocking air, like sand and dirt, can also help extinguish a fire.
Cover the whole base and each log with water when extinguishing the fire. Break up the fire with a stick or fire poker, knocking all the leftover wood into the fire pit. Once the fire is out, put water on the logs Add water to the ground and mix the ash with a stick to make sure there aren’t any hot ashes below the top layer. Logs can also be lit on the inside even if they don’t look like they are on fire from the outside, so it’s best to cut up any big logs that are still on fire before putting them out.
If even one ember is left in a fire that wasn’t put out properly, it can start up hours later, and every camper must keep fires from starting. You are fully responsible for your fire and any harm it may cause. Many campers like to put out their fires twice: before they start getting ready for bed and then again about 30 minutes before they go to sleep to ensure nothing is still going. Setting a forest fire is the opposite of following the Leave No Trace guidelines.
Safety around campfires and helpful hints
- Always check to see if you can have a campfire where you are. Many of the Western U.S. is prone to wildfires so that forest management groups may ban campfires and other open flames for months. It is your job to know what the current fire rules are.
- If you’re camping somewhere other than a marked campsite, you might not be able to have a fire at all or might need a permit. Again, check the rules in your area ahead of time.
- Make sure to leave your food or trash boxes at the site. Some people may think they’re leaving things around the campfire for the next person to use, but they’re really just leaving trash, and animals can be drawn to the smell of food. When you leave an approved campsite or the backwoods, you should take everything you brought with you.
- Please don’t leave a fire unsupervised, and keep everything that can catch fire away from it, like shoes, blankets, grass, extra logs, and kindling. When there are strong winds, keep it even farther away.
- Keep your fires inside the rings that have been set up. Each spot will usually have one fire ring, and the grill on top can generally be removed. Before you start your fire, ensure the fire ring has no grass or trash that could catch fire. If necessary, add more rocks around the edges.
- You might need help to bring your wood. Most of the time, you can only get your fuel to a campsite 150 miles away from home. We’re not making you buy firewood at the camp store. Firewood from other places can bring unwanted plants, animals, and diseases, so many places don’t allow it to help protect fragile environments.
