"It's time to cancel campfires"

[MrNoodly]

Here's an excerpt from an article in Outside magazine about why we should give up campfires.

A week later, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources closed all of its public land in the eastern part of the state. By mid-July, 900 fires had burned 140,000 acres across Washington, and the DNR, which is a firefighting agency in addition to a land manager, was spread thin. It couldn’t manage current burns and have rangers on the ground policing every single illegal campfire. People on public land hadn’t proven themselves able to play by the rules.

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report made clear this week, we’re going to need to give up some of the things we love if we don’t want much more taken away.

If we can’t collectively change behavior for the greater good, we’re screwed. I love sitting around a campfire, telling stories and poking flames, but going without a fire isn’t such a huge sacrifice. Giving up a whole season of outdoor access, on the other hand, feels like a huge loss. And this summer could be as good as it gets for the rest of our lives.

It’s not just fire-prone eastern Washington that’s losing out. Montana enacted regulations prohibiting fishing after midafternoon, because fish are stressed and frying in the heat. Phoenix is closing trails because temperatures are too dangerous for search and rescue to go out and help struggling hikers. Toxic algae is spreading across too warm lakes, and my new nephew is breathing West Coast wildfire smoke all the way over in western Massachusetts.

I am angry and frustrated and grieving. I feel ineffective and hamstrung. Pissed at the government, at the gas companies, at the bros throwing beanbags by a fire three campsites over.

But this summer, I’ve been thinking a lot about how individual actions can have broad public-health impacts, and how part of freedom is accountability and trying to act on behalf of a greater good. We get to choose if we want to sit by a campfire now or be able to sit by smoke-free rivers in future summers. The window of action is shrinking fast."


https://www.outsideonline.com/outdo...ookpost&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

 

[SalsaDog]

I for one saw this coming. Litter too! We haven't had a fire in years. Last February by Bouse. I saw a guy saw a big Iron wood down and skid it to their campsite with their atv. Huge fires every night.

 

[GoingMobile]

I love a good camp fire. Attaching to a more primal version of life. But I can understand if agencies find the need to ban them. I wonder if there is a substitute that would maintain the feel that a camp outside with a fire has ? Artificial using lights and cellaphane? Or just go to bed earlier and enjoy the new morning when it comes.

 

[user 30781]

I was living outside of Sandpoint Idaho at a place where we had a drum circle on full Moon weekends and pagan holidays in the nice weather. One year it was very dry and there was a ban on outside fires. We had a ton of gallon glass jars so we put one of those big white plumbers candle in each jar and then put them in a big stacked circle kind of like a champagne fountain if you can imagine that and then we put all the chairs around it and had a drum circle.

It was real enough from a distance that the neighbors called the police.

Do candles count?

 

[hugemoth]

Campfires should be banned period. Use a propane fire if you want the effect, or sit around a candle. Yes we've done that. For warmth you could get one of those portable diesel heaters with 4 outlet tubes and pipe hot air to 4 people.

 

[wayne49]

Campfires are an anachronism.

We have improved thermal clothing, hand and foot warmers, sleeping gear, safer stoves for controlled temp cooking, etc.

The risks of destruction of natural resources and homes, etc., outweigh any sentimental or comfort value from a campfire.

My first camp fire in decades was in the summer of 2015, after retirement and starting van life, in NE PA. An ember floated up along a gentle breeze, I jumped up, chased it down and put it out. I then put the fire out, and said "never again". I'm not going to be the person that destroyed a forest.

They have portable propane appliances that resemble campfire coals. Amusing to see a group of Class A people gathered around the appliance after a long, hard day's drive on the dusty RV trail. "Blazing Saddles" comes to mind.

 

[MrNoodly]

I'm in favor of lying on the ground, head-to-head-to-head, in the dark, and watching the sky while talking softly. Watching a campfire reduces our field of perception, makes our world tiny. Watching the sky expands our perceptions, makes our world infinite.

 

[maki2]

I don't care one way or the other. They do get banned when conditions are hazardous.

 

[desert_sailing]

I cringe at punishing the majority because of a minority.

We don't ban booze because of those that kill others while drunk driving.

Not burning down the forests obviously is serious.... but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.

One of the best things in Alaska was that a campfire isn't that satisfying in the summer when it's always daylight and there is combustibles laying about but in the winter we have massive bonfires... no little thing. I don't recall any less than 10 ft dia. with flames dancing 30+ feet to the stars.
Plenty of snow to contain most of the problem.... just don't have the couches to close.

Laying in the snow and blackness watching the aurora is pretty fantastic too... not too fun in the summer tho.

Considering mankind's desire to control every aspect of nature.. I vote that we install fire suppression devices throughout and tax everyone.

 

[izifaddag]

I am in Buena Vista in Colorado at the moment. Plenty of people have campfires but I must say they have all been very responsible.
I have had a couple of days with smoke in the air. Nothing to interfere with breathing and in fact if weather.com had not shown the air quality index I wouldn't have known what was happening.
Apparently there are 4 fires going like crazy in Colorado. None of them were caused by people. In each case it was lightening so they say.

 

[ProfessorChaos]

Nothing wrong with campfires but like anything else you have to be smart about it. You an just as easily burn down a forest during a rainy summer as you can during a drought if your not careful.

 

[izifaddag]

I cringe at punishing the majority because of a minority.

We don't ban booze because of those that kill others while drunk driving.

Not burning down the forests obviously is serious.... but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water.

One of the best things in Alaska was that a campfire isn't that satisfying in the summer when it's always daylight and there is combustibles laying about but in the winter we have massive bonfires... no  little thing. I don't recall any less than 10 ft dia.
Plenty of snow to contain most of the problem.... just don't have the couches to close.

Laying in the snow and blackness watching the aurora is pretty fantastic too.

 I think you are right.

 

[MrsBackRoads]

I think I have had 2 fires in the last 3 years. One I planned, and used my cast iron pots to cook dinner. The second was a fire pit that had an existing fire from the previous campers. I smelled smoke when I arrived, and out of curiosity I tossed a handful of leaves on the logs. Poof I had a fire. My question is why would anyone leave a campsite without putting your fire out? It’s just one of the questions I have on personal responsibility lol

 

[TravelingZombies]

We used to enjoy campfires and making hobo pockets but with raging wildfires seemingly every year now we only consider a fire during the wetter winter months and find ourselves appreciating the warmth more when we're cold.

 

[jimindenver]

We use a Gardens treasure propane fire pit, $100 at Lowes.

 

[crofter]

I enjoy watching lightening, and we have had plenty in the last couple weeks. But lightening does start forest fires, so maybe we should ban it along with fireworks, chainsaws, atvs, and bullets that ricochet off rocks. And toast our toes with propane instead of wood fuel. Actually when it is cold enough to need a fire in midwinter, it is usually permitted to do so. 
-crofter

 

[MGfromBC]

I planned to get out of Vancouver tomorrow. Meetings are over.

There are 3 highways heading east and north from southwest BC. Highway 5 is closed because 2 huge fires joined and now straddle the highway. The other 2 highways have delays, detours , warnings, alerts and the status is updated daily. The closed highway is the main route for the big rigs with 2 trailers, RVs, camper trailers and just about anyone going beyond BC. The other 2 highways have fewer passing lanes, more curves and are often Main Street in some small town. All traffic in and out of BC will be on one of those 2 highways and I suspect that many people won't make room to pack their patience.

Most fires have been started by lightening, not all of them. Some were neglected campfires. One was a vehicle collision with a power pole which caused broken wires to arc. The local firefighters were there in minutes and the helicopters were there within an hour but it wasn't quick enough. It spread. There weren't details on the radio but another fire was caused by someone who was charged with improper use of a motor vehicle. One guy had let his grass get so long that he thought it was to long to mow. You got it. People on a passing ferry boat called in the fire.

I might just go sleep in the back yard for a few nights. On a good day it would take about 4 hours to get past the area where the worst of the fires are. That's with all three highways open and no surprises along the way. I don't want to know what it will be like with only 2 highways and possible holdups. I've been in escorted convoys through fire zones before. Been there. Done that.

The following is a link to a short article about conditions on Highway 5, The Coquihalla. If you've ever seen the TV show Highway Through Hell, that's the Coquihalla. The main reason for the link is the photo, about half way between Hope and Merritt.

https://www.squamishchief.com/bc-ne...yYv4WIFCKHq4jtaaXCIR18y7Ih4N8KEGTvHPHygZ2TpZU

MG

 

[desert_sailing]

While I am a big proponent of a forest wide fire suppression system, I wonder if requiring all camper folk to have an extinguisher would be easier than banning campfires?

Most responsible folks I know carry them already so it's not a problem for those "camping" on the regular.

I'm sure much of the man-made fires are from inexperienced weekenders and they definitely should be required to have an extinguisher.

Is this already a regulation? It should be in my opinion.

 

[MGfromBC]

I've got an extinguisher mounted to the driver door sill of my car. Just fits between the door and the seat. Aside from the obvious; it isn't a club, it isn't pepper spray and it doesn't raise questions at a roadside police check.

MG

 

[abnorm]

........ I wonder if requiring all camper folk to have an extinguisher would be easier than banning campfires....................Is this already a regulation? It should be in my opinion.

That's naive to think that a fire extinguisher would be "enough"....most consumer extinguishers last 10-20 seconds...Get close and work fast !

The forest service usually requires at least a Shovel and a Bucket for backwoods permits