Camp Fires

A small fire in a backyard fire pit.  Ideally, in a fire ring. If a fire ring is not available, a temporary fire site may be constructed. One way is to cover the ground with sand, or other soil mostly free of flammable organic material, to a depth of a few inches. Fire rings, however, do not fully protect material on the ground from catching fire. Flying embers are still a threat, and the fire ring may become hot enough to ignite material in contact with it. Generally, one must simply stand away from the ring to prevent injury. No fire should be lit close to trees, tents or other fire hazards. This includes overhanging branches; some carry dead, dry material that can ignite from a single airborne ember. In addition, a fire may harm any roots under it, even if they are protected by a thin layer of soil. Conifers run a greater risk of root damage, because they lack taproots and their roots run close to the surface. Fires also should not be lit on bare rocks. The ash will leave a black stain that cannot be easily removed, but the fire's heat can lead to more dramatic consequences. It will cause the outer layer of the rock to expand, possibly causing it to crack. It may also boil pockets of water contained in the rock causing them to explode.. An additional safety measure is to have sand and water on hand to smother and douse the fire if it does get out of the fire pit. It is wise to gather these materials before they are actually needed.

Types of fuel

There are, by conventional classification, three types of material involved in building a fire without manufactured fuels, tinder, kindling and fuel.

Tinder lights easily and is used to start an enduring campfire. It is anything that can be lit with a match. One of the best natural tinders is birch bark or cedar bark, where available, followed by dead, dry pine needles or grass; a more comprehensive list is given in the article on tinder. Though not natural, steel wool makes excellent tender and can be started with steel and flint without difficulty.  Tinder is easily combustible material used to ignite fires by rudimentary methods. A small fire consisting of tinder is then used to ignite kindling. Anything that can be ignited by a match can be considered tinder; or by more rigorous definition, anything that begins to glow under a shower of sparks. The more restrictive definition is important in the study of survival skills, which redefines kindling as material requiring a match to ignite it.   Materials commonly used as tinder:

• Dry pine needles, leaves or grass
• Birch bark
• Dead, standing (usually one season old) Goldenrod
• Cloth, lint, or frayed rope (if made from plant fibers and not treated with fire retardant)
• Char Cloth
• Cotton swabs, tampons
• Paper, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.
• Punk wood (in the process of rotting) or charred wood
• Some types of fungus (best known is the Amadou or horse's hoof fungus)
• Bird down
• Small twigs (poor tinder but commonly available)
• Fine-grade soap-coated steel wool
• Shaved magnesium or other alkaline earth metals

Whichever material is used, the thinner it is and the more surface there is, and especially edges, the more easily it will ignite. With wood, this can be achieved by shaving slivers off it. One method to keep these together is to make a feather stick. The best wood from a tree is dead branches that haven't fallen to the ground yet.

If a fire is to be lit by sparks rather than matches, char cloth, punkwood, fungus or down are commonly used to catch the sparks. However, fungi should be selected with care as some release toxic fumes on combustion. Char cloth can be made by placing plant-based fabric (usually cotton) in a tin box into a campfire; like charcoal, it is the product of anhydrous pyrolysis. It is very fragile, and should usually be prepared only in small quantities.

Embers of burned paper, leaves and other sheet like materials are easily carried off by air currents, where they can alight on other objects and ignite them. In outdoor campfires, paper can be wadded up to reduce this hazard; wadded paper also burns more quickly.

Magnesium is sold in stores in shaved or bar form. Shavings burn white-hot, are impossible to smother with carbon dioxide or sand, and can ignite even wet kindling. Solid bars are impossible to ignite under normal conditions (and difficult even with a welding torch), and are thus very safe to carry. Magnesium powder and shavings are pyrophoric (they oxidize rapidly when exposed to the air). It is dangerous to carry pre-shaved magnesium — at best, it loses potency, at worst, it can spontaneously ignite and is then nearly unquenchable. Magnesium bars are sometimes sold with a length of ferrocerium cast into one edge.

Kindling is an arbitrary classification including anything bigger than tinder but smaller than fuel wood. In fact, there are gradations of kindling, from sticks thinner than a finger to those as thick as a wrist. A quantity of kindling sufficient to fill a hat may be enough, but more is better.

• Pitchwood from a fir stumpcan be found in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Fir trees, especially the Douglas fir, will leave stumps in the ground when they die. These stumps contain spires of resin-impregnated wood which can easily be lighted using only a single match or lighter. "To identify pitchwood, first look for an old snag stub...Along with the red, rotten wood, you will find veins of solid wood radiating out between the rotten wood areas. There also may be spikes of sound wood sticking up above the rotten wood. Take your knife and whittle a shaving. Smell this shaving. If it has a penetrating, turpentive odor, you have found some pitchwood. Also, look around the base of the snag stub; there may be pieces of pitchwood that have fallen off during the process of decay. Pitchwood is heavy, and will have a reddish to black color, depending on the amount of resin or pitch that the wood contains." By shaving the pitchwood into small splinters, it will readily ignite. Pitchwood does not absorb water, and so will ignite in any weather when sheltered from rain and wind. In the southeastern United States it is formed from the heartwood of Longleaf pine trees and is called "fat lighter" or "lighter'd" (a shortening of lighter-wood).
• Fatwood, also known as “fat lighter,” “lighter wood” or “lighter’d,” is derived from the heartwood of pine trees. This resin-impregnated heartwood is hard and rot-resistant; the stumps or heartwood centers of fallen pines had last for decades after the rest of the tree has rotted away. Although most resinous pines can produce fatwood, in the southeastern United States the wood is commonly associated with Longleaf pine, which historically was highly valued for its high pitch production.   Because of the flammability of the pine resin, fatwood is prized for use as kindling in starting fires. It lights quickly, even when wet, and burns hot enough to light larger pieces of wood. The pitch-soaked wood produces an oily, sooty smoke, and it is recommended that one should not cook on a fire until all the fatwood has completely burned out.  Industrial uses for fatwood include production of turpentine; when fatwood is cooked down in a fire kiln, the heavier resin product that results is tar. The steam that vaporizes from this process is turned into a liquid that becomes turpentine.

Fuel can be different types of timber. Timber ranges from small logs two or three inches (76 mm) across to larger logs that can burn for hours. It is typically difficult to gather without a hatchet or other cutting tool. In heavily used campsites, fuel wood can be hard to find, so it may have to be brought from home or purchased at a nearby store.  Some states do not let you bring fuel from out of state.  Check local laws about brining your fuel with you.  Areas such as State Parks and National Parks which permit camping most often will allow the collection of wood lying on the ground with the exception of parks that have erosion problems (i.e. campgrounds that are near dunes); although you should always ask the person in charge of the campground such as the park ranger if the gathering of wood lying of the ground is allowed. Cutting of living trees is almost always forbidden - but neither is it very useful, because sap-filled wood does not burn well. Squaw wood (dead parts of standing trees) may also be prohibited.

Building the fire

Having found a suitable site and gathered materials, the fire-builder has a variety of designs to choose from. A good design is very important in the early stages of a fire. Most of them make no mention of fuel wood - in most designs, fuel wood is never placed on a fire until the kindling is burning strongly.

The tipi fire-build takes some patience to construct. First, the tinder is piled up in a compact heap. The smaller kindling is arranged around it, like the poles of a tipi. For added strength, it may be possible to lash some of the sticks together. A tripod lashing is quite difficult to execute with small sticks, so a clove hitch should suffice. (Synthetic rope should be avoided, since it produces pollutants when it burns.) Then the larger kindling is arranged above the smaller kindling, taking care not to collapse the tipi. A separate tipi as a shell around the first one may work better. Tipi fires are excellent for producing heat to keep you warm. However, one downside to a Tipi fire is the fact that when it burns, the logs become unstable and can fall over. This is especially concerning if you have a large fire.

A lean-to fire-build starts with the same pile of tinder as the tipi fire-build. Then, a long, thick piece of kindling is driven into the ground at an angle, so that it overhangs the tinder pile. The smaller pieces of kindling are leaned against the big stick so that the tinder is enclosed between them.   In an alternative method, a large piece of fuel wood or log can be placed on the ground next to the tinder pile. Then kindling is placed with one end propped up by the larger piece of fuel wood, and the other resting on the ground, so that the kindling is leaning over the tinder pile. This method is useful in very high winds, as the piece of fuel wood acts as a windbreak.

A log cabin fire-build likewise begins with a tinder pile. The kindling is then stacked around it, as in the construction of a log cabin. The first two kindling sticks are laid parallel to each other, on opposite sides of the tinder pile. The second pair is laid on top of the first, at right angles to it, and also on opposite sides of the tinder. More kindling is added in the same manner. The smallest kindling is placed over the top of the assembly. Of all the fire-builds, the log cabin is the least vulnerable to premature collapse, but it is also inefficient, because it makes the worst use of convection to ignite progressively larger pieces of fuel.  A variation on the log cabin starts with two pieces of fuel wood with a pile of tinder between them, and small kindling laid over the tops of the logs, above the tinder. The tinder is lit, and the kindling is allowed to catch fire. When it is burning briskly, it is broken and pushed down into the consumed tinder, and the larger kindling is placed over the top of the logs. When that is burning well, it is also pushed down. Eventually, a pile of kindling should be burning between two pieces of fuel wood. The logs will eventually catch fire from it.
Another variation is called the funeral pyre method because it is used for building funeral pyres. Its main difference from the standard log cabin is that it starts with thin pieces and moves up to thick pieces. If built on a large scale, this type of fire-build collapses in a controlled manner without restricting the air flow.  A cross-fire is another variation in which two pieces of fuel wood are placed parallel on the ground with tinder between them. Once the kindling is going strong, alternating perpendicular layers of fuel wood are placed across the two base pieces. This type of fire is excellent for producing coals for cooking.

The traditional Finnish rakovalkea (literally "slit bonfire") is constructed by placing one long piece of fuel wood atop another, parallel and bolstering them in place with four sturdy posts driven into the ground. (Traditionally, whole un split tree trunks are used for the fuel wood.) Kindling and tinder are placed between the logs in sufficient quantity (while avoiding the very ends) to raise the upper log and allow ventilation. The tinder is always lit at the center so the bolstering posts don't burn prematurely. The rakovalkea has two excellent features. First, it burns slowly but steadily when lit; it doesn't require arduous maintenance, but burns for a very long time. A well constructed rakovalkea of two thick logs of two meters in length can warm two lean-to shelters for a whole sleeping shift. The construction causes the logs themselves to protect the fire from the wind. Thus, exposure to smoke is unlikely for the sleepers; nevertheless someone should always watch in case of an emergency. Second, it can be easily scaled to larger sizes (for a feast) limited only by the length of available tree trunks.

A keyhole fire is made in a keyhole-shaped fire ring, and is used in cooking. The large round area is used to build a fire in order to create coals. As coals develop, they are scraped into the rectangular area used for cooking.

A "top lighter" fire is built similar to a log cabin or pyre, but instead of the tinder and kindling being placed inside the cabin, it is placed in a tipi on top. The small tipi is lighted on top, and the coals eventually fall down into the log cabin. These fires are often built by youth outdoor movements for "council fires" or ceremonial fires. They burn very predictably, and with some practice a builder can estimate how long they will last. They also don't throw off a lot of heat, which isn't needed for a ceremonial fire. The fire burns from the top down, with the layer of hot coals and burning stubs igniting the next layer down.

Lighting the fire

Once the fire is built, the next step is to light the tinder, using either an ignition device such as a match or a lighter. A reasonably skillful fire-builder using reasonably good material will only need one match. The tinder will burn brightly, but be reduced to glowing embers within half a minute. If the kindling does not catch fire, the fire-builder must gather more tinder, determine what went wrong and try to fix it.

One of five problems can prevent a fire from lighting properly: wet wood, wet weather, too little tinder, too much wind, or a lack of oxygen. Rain will, of course, douse a fire, but a combination of wind and fog also has a stifling effect. Metal fire rings generally do a good job of keeping out wind, but some of them are so high as to impede the circulation of oxygen in a small fire. To make matters worse, these tall fire rings also make it very difficult to blow on the fire properly.

Steady, forceful blowing may be in order for a small fire in an enclosed space that has mysteriously slowed down, but blowing may extinguish a fire if it is done abruptly or when it is not needed. Most large fires easily create their own circulation, even in unfavorable conditions, but the variant log-cabin fire-build suffers from a chronic lack of air so long as the initial structure is maintained.

Once the large kindling is burning, all of the kindling should be put on the fire, save for one piece at least a foot long. This piece is useful later to push pieces of fuel wood where they are needed.  Once all of the kindling is burning, the fuel wood should be placed on top of it (unless, as in the rakovalkea fire-build, it is already there). For best results, two or more pieces of fuel wood should be leaned against each other, as in the tipi fire-build.

Campfire activities

Campfires have been used for cooking since time immemorial. Possibly the simplest method of cooking over a campfire and one of the most common is to roast food on long skewers that can be held above the flames. This is a popular technique for cooking hot dogs or toasting marshmallows for making s'mores. Another technique is to use pie irons — small iron molds with long handles, into which can be placed slices of bread with some form of filling — which are placed over hot coals to cook. However, portable stoves have all but replaced campfires for cooking.

Other practical, though not commonly needed, applications for campfires include drying wet clothing, alleviating hypothermia, and distress signaling.

Most campfires, though, are lit exclusively for recreation. People tend to find something fascinating about flames and glowing coals, so a campfire is usually an agreeable (and warm) way to pass the time from dusk to bedtime, particularly for those in a pensive mood. Campfires are also good venues for intimate conversation and storytelling; yarns and stories about poltergeists are particularly popular. Songs are also usually sung by the fire, a tradition that is usually associated with Scouting and Guiding. Scouting Songs are popular tunes that are sung all over the country at campfires all summer – and all year – long. Another tradition in most scout outings involving a whole scout district (especially Boy Scouts) is to perform sketch comedy a.k.a. skits.

Another traditional campfire activity involves impaling marshmallows on sticks or uncoiled wire coat hangers, and roasting them over the fire. Roasted marshmallows may also be used for s'mores.

Ash tradition

The campfire ash tradition may be found in Scouting throughout the world. There may be an introduction and closing to it at the end of a campfire ceremony or individuals may partake of this tradition on their own. Scouts do not necessarily encounter this tradition.

Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and the Chief Scout of the World, used to collect some of the ashes from each Scouting event and he would mix them with water and all people with him at the time would drink from the cup. As this tradition has spread, Scouts from around the world have shared campfire ash water with each other. Lists have been kept of the events where this has happened. These lists form a history and a bond between Scouts and Scouters over the years; regardless of the distance, language, culture or uniform. This ash tradition represents the Friendship and Scouting Spirit shared by Scouts and Guides at campfires around the world.

Extinguishing the fire

Leaving a fire unattended can be dangerous. Any number of accidents might occur in the absence of people, leading to property damage, personal injury or possibly a wildfire. Ash is a very good insulator, so embers left overnight will only lose a fraction of their heat. It is even possible to restart the new day's fire by using the embers as an igniting device.

Large amounts of water are indispensable for extinguishing a fire. To properly cool a fire, water should be splashed on all the embers, including places that are not glowing red. Splashing the water is both more effective and efficient in extinguishing the fire. The water will boil violently and carry ash in the air with it, dirtying anything nearby but not posing a safety hazard. The water should be poured until the hissing noises stop. Then the ashes should be stirred with a stick to make sure that the water has penetrated all the layers; if the hissing continues, more water should be added. A fire is fully extinguished if the ashes are cool to the touch.

If water is scarce, sand may be used. The sand will deprive the fire of oxygen quite well, but it is much less effective than water at absorbing heat. Once the fire has been covered thoroughly with sand, all water that can be spared should be poured on it, and the sand stirred into the ash.

When winter or "ice" camping with an inch or more of snow on the ground, neither of the above protocols are necessary--simply douse visible flames before leaving.

Finally, in lightly-used wilderness areas, it is best to replace anything that was moved while preparing the fire site, and scatter anything that was gathered, so that it looks as natural as possible. Make absolutely certain that anything that was in or near the fire is fully cooled before following this protocol.

Page Revised 03/27/2010