Keep your Campfire Burning Longer with these Tips

Campfires play an integral role during camping; they not only provide warmth and light in the darkness but have almost become iconic to the youth campers. However, lack of planning can ruin this zeal of fire and here we give you some tips to combat this.

In order to keep the fire burning, you got to have some of the basic principle things around or with you. These important requisites include the fuel, heat, and air supply. While fuel remains to be the substrate which gets burnt, the heat should be maintained and should remain controllable.

Air supply, the third pre-requisite, should have adequate amount of oxygen. Check out the points that are needed to be focussed on if you wish to keep your campfire burning longer –

campfire burning

The Right Place

  • A clear, spacious area, preferably outdoor
  • Away from any kind of flora or vegetation.
  • Choose an area which has continuous supply of oxygen, and is properly ventilated.
  • Never set it up near rocks, as saturated water in it can lead to pressure build up and cause explosion.

An Efficient Fuel: Firewood

  • Kindling and tinder refer to twigs, small sticks, grass, and dry leaves etc, which allow quick burning.
  • Dry firewood is necessary, as moisture content in wood decreases the efficiency of burning and hence the fire will not last long enough.
  • Chopped wood should be avoided as it has high water content.
  • Softwood catches fire easily, hence should be used initially, whereas hardwood takes more time to burn but lasts long and liberates more heat; hence it should be used once a stable flame is achieved.
  • Always remember the key rule: Thicker the wood is, longer the fire lasts.

Building the Camp Fire

  • Place the longest and biggest logs at the bottom.
  • Now place a layer of twigs, kindling and tinder.
  • Place another layer of logs, on top of this. Nail a long wooden thick branch to the topmost layer of the log to support the three layers underneath.
  • Light the fire from the middle layer.
  • Constructing a pyramid type structure would give you more voluminous fire but as a con, the fire would not last long.
  • To get a long lasting campfire it is important to control the rate of combustion.
  • The arrangement of Criss-cross arrangement of thick wood with the soft wood, kindling and tinder at the centre lasts long.
  • A fire poker should be used to move the logs and blow the fire; this ensures that oxygen is supplied uniformly.

Safety

A camp is never 100% safe, due to the close proximity with mother-nature. Hence, to remain on the safer side, follow the following ethics:

  • Don’t build a fire in extremely windy areas, or on an upward slope.
  • Never leave the campfire unattended
  • Keep children away.
  • Don’t use plastics, aluminium and thermocol as a fuel for fire, since they do not undergo complete combustion and release harmful gases.

Photo Credit By: writesofway.com