The Complete Book of Fire: Building Campfires for Warmth, Light, Cooking, and Survival by Buck Tilton

Author:Buck Tilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Outdoor, Methods, Reference, Cooking, Sports & Recreation, Handbooks & Manuals, Outdoor Skills, Camping
ISBN: 9780897328296
Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press
Published: 2010-09-29T15:10:40+00:00

To Build–or Not to Build–a Fire

FIGURE 19: Mound Fire

Fire Pans

For even less impact than a mound fire, carry a fire pan. A fire pan can be anything metal: commercial fire pans, oil pans, aluminum roasting pans, garbage can lids. The pan needs to have sides high enough—three inches FIGURE 20: Fire Pan

• 51 •

The COMPLeTe BOOk OF FIRe

will be enough—to contain the fire. Place

ResponsibLe

FiRe-buiLding:

the pan on a durable surface, and elevate

it on a few rocks to prevent damage to

• Assure an abundance of

vegetation and soil below. Fill the pan with

firewood.

a couple of inches of inorganic soil prior to

• Make a safe fire.

building a fire, and you’re ready to go. In the

• Keep the fire small.

morning, you can drown the ashes and easily

• Minimize long-lasting

disperse them over a large area by scattering

impact to the site.

them from the pan.

• Make sure the fire is

thoroughly out.

thE FIRE' s wood

• Erase evidence of the

The best firewood, environmentally speak-

fire.

ing, is the dead and downed stuff lying at

least relatively close to your fire site. (see Chapter 4 to learn more about wood.) Don’t break branches from trees, dead or living, a practice that scars the forest. Pick up sticks you can break with your hands, sticks no larger than one or two inches in diameter.

Wood too difficult to break ranks higher in its value to the ecosystem. You may find chunks of dry, rotten wood that will burn okay, but, once again, leave it for the plants and animals of the forest. Gathering smaller pieces of wood will also encourage you to keep your fire of a reasonable size, which is small. Smaller wood pieces burn easily and completely to ash, making clean up easier and the results of your clean up better. Half-burned logs are ugly and a huge disposal problem. Even though you just hiked ten miles to reach the back of beyond, walk well away from camp—start, say, 100 yards out—to gather the wood, leaving the immediate vicinity appearing less impacted. A few, rare wilderness areas are trying to reduce extensive amounts of dead wood, and suggest you carry a saw, ax, or hatchet—otherwise save the weight . . . and

the wood.

buRn onLy Wood

camPFIRE managEmEnt

Plastic doesn’t burn. It

There is no safe way to leave a fire unat-

melts, contributing to

tended, so never do it. Stop feeding the

air pollution. Foil and

fire an hour or so before you plan to clean

foil-lined packages won’t

up, allowing time for the wood to burn

burn. leftover food re-

completely. As the fire burns down, add

quires high heat for a long

the unburned stick ends. When the heat

time to burn. other than

nears its end, crush any bits of charcoal into

paper, burn only wood.

powder. Your goal is a pile of white ash and

• 52 •

To Build–or Not to Build–a Fire black powder—and nothing more. For those

the seven

who care about minimum impact, the great-

pRincipLes oF Leave

est contributing factor to a lack of success

no tRace

is failure to give yourself time to restore a

(WWW.Lnt.com)

site to its original (or better) state. Haste, in 1. Plan ahead and

other words, makes impact.

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