Campfires...good in moderation
This happened two days ago. The moral of the story is common knowledge but bears repeating. A dad and his buddies at a neighboring site thought that racing fuel would make a good campfire starter....
Forum Discussion
Three things to say to this topic.
First, think about how you may hurt someone when your in charge of starting the fire. Yea, you may have done it a hundred times with gasoline or charcoal lighter fluid without issue and yea, it might be much faster than building the small fire with paper or dry leaves or grass or some other form of tinder. It only takes one accident to change someone's life. Might be yours, might be someone sitting there with you. It might even be someone just watching you who decided to do it your way sometime and isn't as "skilled" as you are and does have a problem.
Secondly, Part of camping in the outdoors is about learning about nature and "roughing it", even though many here, myself included, graduated from tents to a RV many would not consider roughing it anymore. Teach those watching how to build a fire with tinder, slowly getting an ember to grow, slowing adding more fuel with twigs and leaves, slowly increasing the size of the fuel until you have a good enough bed of coals to actually put a log on. All of this is a lost art to many but is a survival skill anyone that visits the woods should have. We are all one accident from spending the night in a place we may have to make shelter and start a fire to stay warm.
Third, I understand we sometimes are in a hurry. I've been there. When I am, there IS a safe way to start a fire fast. It's called MATCHLIGHT charcoal. Carry a small bag, put half dozen briquettes in the fire pit and light it and top it with twigs and your ready to add a log in a few minutes without anyone losing any eyebrows, hair or skin.
Your kids or grandkids are always watching you. What you do is the "right way" in their minds. I for one don't want to be responsible for them having to deal with what that poor kid is dealing with. Not when they are camping with me or some time down the road when they are just "doing what dad/grandpa did".
First, think about how you may hurt someone when your in charge of starting the fire. Yea, you may have done it a hundred times with gasoline or charcoal lighter fluid without issue and yea, it might be much faster than building the small fire with paper or dry leaves or grass or some other form of tinder. It only takes one accident to change someone's life. Might be yours, might be someone sitting there with you. It might even be someone just watching you who decided to do it your way sometime and isn't as "skilled" as you are and does have a problem.
Secondly, Part of camping in the outdoors is about learning about nature and "roughing it", even though many here, myself included, graduated from tents to a RV many would not consider roughing it anymore. Teach those watching how to build a fire with tinder, slowly getting an ember to grow, slowing adding more fuel with twigs and leaves, slowly increasing the size of the fuel until you have a good enough bed of coals to actually put a log on. All of this is a lost art to many but is a survival skill anyone that visits the woods should have. We are all one accident from spending the night in a place we may have to make shelter and start a fire to stay warm.
Third, I understand we sometimes are in a hurry. I've been there. When I am, there IS a safe way to start a fire fast. It's called MATCHLIGHT charcoal. Carry a small bag, put half dozen briquettes in the fire pit and light it and top it with twigs and your ready to add a log in a few minutes without anyone losing any eyebrows, hair or skin.
Your kids or grandkids are always watching you. What you do is the "right way" in their minds. I for one don't want to be responsible for them having to deal with what that poor kid is dealing with. Not when they are camping with me or some time down the road when they are just "doing what dad/grandpa did".
