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A campfire is a fire lit at a campsite, usually in a fire ring. Campfires are a popular feature of camping, particularly among organized campers such as Scouts or Guides. Without proper precautions they are also potentially dangerous. A certain degree of skill is needed to properly build a campfire, to keep it going, and to see that it is properly extinguished. Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ...
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It has been suggested that flame be merged into this article or section. ...
Campsites are often situated in or near forests. ...
A fire ring is a device used to contain campfires and prevent them from spreading and turning into wildfires. ...
For other uses, see camping (disambiguation) Camping is an outdoor recreational activity involving the spending of one or more nights in a tent, primitive structure, a travel trailer or recreational vehicle at a campsite with the purpose of getting away from civilization and enjoying nature. ...
Scouting is a worldwide youth organization. ...
Girl Guides was founded as the female version of Lord Robert Baden-Powells Boy Scouts, in 1910 with the assistance of his sister Agnes Baden-Powell. ...
The dangers A campfire may burn out of control in two basic ways: on the ground or in the trees. Dead leaves or pine needles on the ground may ignite from direct contact with burning wood, or from thermal radiation. Alternatively, airborne embers (or their smaller kin, sparks) may ignite dead material in overhanging branches. This latter threat is less likely, but a fire in a branch will be virtually impossible to put out without firefighting equipment, and may spread more quickly than a ground fire. The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. ...
In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ...
A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ...
Thermal radiation, or radiant heat, is electromagnetic radiation from an object that is simply caused by its temperature. ...
Look up Spark in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The word spark has several meanings: Sparks produced by grinding In electricity, spark usually refers to a momentary electrostatic discharge across a spark gap. ...
It has been suggested that flame be merged into this article or section. ...
Embers may simply fall off of logs and be carried away by the air, or they may be ejected at high speed by exploding pockets of sap. With these dangers in mind, some places prohibit all open fires, particularly during times of the year that are prone to wildfires. Sap is: Look up sap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or...
Campfires are prohibited in many public camping areas. Public areas with large tracts of woodland usually have signs indicating the level of fire danger, which usually depends on recent rain and the amount of deadfalls or dry debris; when the danger is highest, all open fires are prohibited. Even in safer times, it is common to require registration and permits to build a campfire. Such areas are often kept under observation by rangers, who will dispatch someone to investigate any unidentified plume of smoke. Limber Pine woodland, Toiyabe Range, central Nevada Biologically, a woodland is differentiated from a forest. ...
It has been suggested that flame be merged into this article or section. ...
A Park Ranger is a person charged with protecting and preserving parkland, forests (then called Forest Rangers), wilderness areas other natural resources. ...
Finding a site, and other safety measures Ideally, every fire should be lit 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 centimeters. The area of sand should be large enough to safely contain the fire and any pieces of burning wood that may fall out of it. Sand piles should be scattered after the fire has been put out. If the topsoil is moist, it may suffice to simply clear it of any dead plant matter. A fire ring is a device used to contain campfires and prevent them from spreading and turning into wildfires. ...
Patterns in the sand Sand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. ...
An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon, with the exception of carbides, carbonates, carbon oxides and gases containing carbon. ...
Topsoil is the uppermost layer of soil, usually the top six to eight 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.
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. The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. ...
A tent is a shelter, consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles. ...
Primary and secondary roots in a cotton plant In vascular plants, the root is that organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil (compare with stem). ...
Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales Pinaceae - Pine family Araucariaceae - Araucaria family Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family Cupressaceae - Cypress family Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. ...
The dandelions taproot, quite apparent in this drawing, renders this plant very difficult to uproot – the plant itself gives way, but the root stays in the ground and may sprout again. ...
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.
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. Water (from the Old English word wæter; c. ...
Types of fuel There are, by conventional classification, three types of material involved in building a fire without manufactured fuels. For the workstation, see SGI Fuel. ...
- Tinder is anything that can be lit with a match. The best natural tinder is dead, dry pine needles or grass; a more comprehensive list is given in the article on tinder. A quantity of tinder sufficient to fill one's cupped hands to the top is the bare minimum needed.
- Kindling is an arbitrary classification including anything bigger than tinder but smaller than fuelwood. 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.
- Fuelwood ranges from small logs two or three inches across to larger logs that can burn for hours. It is typically impossible to gather without a hatchet or other cutting tool, so fuelwood must usually be brought from home or purchased at a nearby store.
The gathering of fuel in natural areas is often restricted. 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. Wood lying on the ground is usually permitted. From Old English tynder, easily combustible material used for starting a fire. ...
burning match This article refers to the implement used to create a flame. ...
Species About 115. ...
Subfamilies There are 7 subfamilies: Subfamily Arundinoideae Subfamily Bambusoideae Subfamily Centothecoideae Subfamily Chloridoideae Subfamily Panicoideae Subfamily Pooideae Subfamily Stipoideae The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, also known as Gramineae. ...
From Old English tynder, easily combustible material used for starting a fire. ...
Kindling is material for starting a fire. ...
This page is about a sharp instrument, see Hatchet (novel) for the novel. ...
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 fuelwood - in most designs, fuelwood is never placed on a fire until the kindling is burning strongly. - The tipi fire-build is perhaps the best, but it is 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.
- 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.
- 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 fuelwood 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 fuelwood. 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.
- The traditional Finnish rakovalkea (literally "slit bonfire") is constructed by placing one long piece of fuelwood atop another, parallel and bolstering them in place with four sturdy posts driven into the ground. (Traditionally, whole unsplit tree trunks are used for the fuelwood.) 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 ardous 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 means that the logs themselves act as wind-cover! 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.
Nez Perce tipi A tipi (also teepee, tepee) is a conical tent originally made of skins and popularised by the American Indians of the Great Plains. ...
The tripod lashing is a type of lashing. ...
The clove hitch is a type of knot. ...
Pollutants are substances which directly or indirectly damage us or the environment. ...
Details of cabin corner joint with squared off logs A log cabin is a small house built from logs. ...
Convection is the transfer of heat by currents within a fluid. ...
A pyre is a structure, such as a mound of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite. ...
Lighting the fire Once the fire is built, the next step is to light the tinder, using either 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. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1244x890, 920 KB) Summary Description: Campfire Source: self-made Date: 2005-09-01 Author: Dirk Beyer Permission: GFDL and cc-by-sa-2. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1244x890, 920 KB) Summary Description: Campfire Source: self-made Date: 2005-09-01 Author: Dirk Beyer Permission: GFDL and cc-by-sa-2. ...
burning match This article refers to the implement used to create a flame. ...
A metal naphtha lighter A lighter is a device used to create fire with the intent to ignite another substance such as a cigarette, smoking pipe, bong, hookah or charcoal in a grill. ...
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. Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earths surface. ...
Sunlight filters through a thin layer of fog on a crisp winter morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ...
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 fuelwood where they are needed. Once all of the kindling is burning, the fuelwood 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 fuelwood should be leaned against each other, as in the tipi fire-build.
Without matches There are several ways to light a fire without any matches. All of them work with only the lightest and most flammable tinder, such as paper. - On a sunny day, a lens may be used to focus the light onto the tinder. The most suitable lenses are magnifying glasses (included in some compasses), but eyeglasses may also suffice.
- The "bow and drill" method is also well-known, but it is a lot of work. The bow is similar to that used for archery. To make such a bow, find a thin rope or flexible but sturdy vine, and a sturdy stick about two feet long. Tie the rope to one end of the stick, and make another knot on the other end of the stick, with the rope between the ends not quite taut. The drill is another straight stick, thin but strong, preferably stripped of bark and with a sharpened end. The center of the bowstring (rope) is wrapped around the drill, with the two sticks at right angles to each other. The end of the drill is placed on a piece of bark in the middle of the tinder. The bow is moved rapidly back and forth to rotate the drill and create heat and friction on the bark. This method works best with an assistant feeding the tinder to the hot spot.
- The crudest method of igniting a fire is to strike two hard objects (at least one of them combustible) together to produce a spark, and ignite tinder from the spark. The substances traditionally used to produce sparks are flint and either steel or pyrite. Replacing the steel with ferrocerium (lighter "flint") produces more sparks with less effort. Rotting wood (punkwood) or charred fuel are sometimes used as tinder when using this method.
- An ancient method called a Firepiston can be used. It uses the principle that highly pressurized air dramatically increases in temperature. It works just like the modern day diesel engine, compression increases the temperature high enough to ignite tinder.
A lens is: a part of the eye an optical device that may be used in a camera or in a telescope; see lens (optics) or Category:Lenses. ...
A magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a single convex lens which is used to produce a magnified image of an object. ...
Compass in a wooden box A compass (or mariners compass) is a navigational instrument for finding directions on the earth. ...
Glasses, spectacles, or eyeglasses are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, sometimes for purely aesthetic reasons but normally for vision correction or eye protection. ...
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BARK (Binär Automatisk ReläKalkylator) was completed in February 1950 at a cost of 400. ...
Friction is the force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. ...
Look up Spark in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The word spark has several meanings: Sparks produced by grinding In electricity, spark usually refers to a momentary electrostatic discharge across a spark gap. ...
Pebble beach made up of flint nodules eroded out of the nearby chalk cliffs, Cape Arkona, Rügen Flint (or flintstone) is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline silica rock with a glassy appearance. ...
The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ...
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is iron disulfide, FeS2. ...
Ferrocerium is the flint in lighters, and its ability to give a large number of sparks when scraped against a rough surface (pyrophoricity) is used in many other applications, such as clockwork toys and strikers for welding torches. ...
Campfire activities
 Australian "snags" cooking on a campfire Campfires have been used for cooking since time immemorial. However, portable stoves have all but replaced campfires in this regard. For cooking information, see cooking on a campfire. Other practical, though not commonly needed, applications for campfires include drying wet clothing, alleviating hypothermia and use as a distress signal. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1067, 349 KB) Cooking snags or sausages over a campfire in the true Aussie way File links The following pages link to this file: Sausage Campfire Snag ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1067, 349 KB) Cooking snags or sausages over a campfire in the true Aussie way File links The following pages link to this file: Sausage Campfire Snag ...
Cooking is the act of preparing food for consumption. ...
A small portable stove and its container MSR WindPro with skillet, heat reflector, wind shield and isobutane/propane canister A portable stove is a stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, such as for camping. ...
Cooking in the outdoors using heated stone Campfires can be used for cooking food by a number of techniques. ...
(See also List of types of clothing and Clothing terminology) Humans nearly universally wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments, attire, or apparel) on the body. ...
Hypothermia is a medical condition in which the victims core body temperature has dropped to significantly below normal and normal metabolism begins to be impaired. ...
A distress signal is an internationally recognized means of obtaining help by using a radio, displaying a visual object or making noise from a distance. ...
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 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. Dusk in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, USA. Dusk or civil dusk is the time at which the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon in the evening. ...
Story has several different meanings as outlined below. ...
Yarn. ...
A poltergeist (German for noisy ghost) is widely believed to be an invisible ghost that interacts with others by moving and influencing inanimate objects. ...
Another traditional campfire activity involves impaling marshmallows on sticks or uncoiled coat hangers, and roasting them over the fire. Roasted marshmallows may also be used for S'mores. Pink marshmallows. ...
Wire (top) and wooden (bottom) clothes hangers A clothes hanger, or coat hanger, is a device in the shape of human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse or dress in a manner that prevents wrinkles, with a lower bar for the hanging of...
A smore is a traditional campfire treat consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a slab of chocolate, sandwiched between two pieces of Graham cracker. ...
Extinguishing the fire Leaving a fire unattended is 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. // Definition An Insulator is a material or object which resists the flow of electric charge. ...
Large amounts of water are indispensable for extinguishing a fire. To properly cool a fire, water should be poured on all the embers, including places that are not glowing red. 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.
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. Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, United States Wilderness is land that has not been significantly modified by direct or indirect human activity. ...
See also Cooking in the outdoors using heated stone Campfires can be used for cooking food by a number of techniques. ...
For other uses, see camping (disambiguation) Camping is an outdoor recreational activity involving the spending of one or more nights in a tent, primitive structure, a travel trailer or recreational vehicle at a campsite with the purpose of getting away from civilization and enjoying nature. ...
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