fire ban

hope to go to bullards state park in Oregon next week. hope they do not have a no fire ban.

Over the recent past, and during high fire hazard conditions, the FS campgrounds around our neck of the woods still allowed fires in established campgrounds. The emphasis was to put the fire dead out when you retire for the night.

scbwr wrote:
As an alternative, you can get a propane "fire in a can" and at least be able to make smors, or cook hot dogs, etc. But, if you do, you still need to check if it is ok to use one.

I have two alternatives here.. One is the one listed above (not the campfire in a can but a competing brand) and I've used it No sparks are given off since it is a propane fire.. Looks nice, feels real.

The other is a wood burner (or charcoal) called PIT-2-GO.. I do not think you can get 'em any more but one of the options is a spark arrester/fish grill (Does double duty) and it does a fairly good job

I also keep a water bottle (1.5 Gallons under pressure) handy.. These are better known as garden sprayers.

In the early days, tenting at higher elevations, you needed an evening fire just to keep warm, before crawling into a sleeping bag in the tent. Always had small chairs, to keep moving, as no matter the breeze, the smoke was always in your face.

I see many folks now days, camping in the concrete RV parks, pull in with truck full of wood. Yep, 90 degrees out, get that fire started, and continue to keep the eternal flame burning/smoking at all times, even though no one is near it, except to throw more wood on.

Many places no longer allow brought in wood, and the dollar a piece of wood they sell, cuts down on the eternal flame folks. :)

Jerry

The smell of a real decent wood campfire in the air in a CG is what makes camping real and so enjoyable! It's just bland a place to park your RV like still being at home or in a store etc parking lot without it!

We even have a good sized (4' round fire pit) right in our backyard and piles of cut and split wood and use it a lot and have for decades for us alone and/or with family and friends. Always in the evening or after dark of course and the ambient air temp has nothing to do with using it. It's enjoyed by all constantly!

Never one complaint from any neighbor ever. Have been told so many times the wood smoke scent in the air gives them, the neighbors, the feeling they are camping also and we have invited and had many neighbors to join in on our fires too.

Haven't yet personally met anyone who has an allergy to smoke scent in the air in all our over 50 years of RV'ing alone but I do know there are some and some of the posters on this forum are. The State of Michigan is still 53% forested and has thousands of campgrounds and campfires are the normal and alive everywhere in the state and are very rarely temporarily banned due to any drought/dry conditions. Most of the CG's in the state are on one of the over 11,000 inland lakes or on the Great Lakes or on the now published 73,000+ miles of rivers, streams, or flowing creeks in the state which means plenty of moisture around to keep the CG's vegetation/area very green and fire resistant or fireproof. So enjoyed by all!

After watching all those horrific news coverage videos of the fires out west and the carnage of it all. Just can't understand those on some other threads that get upset about fire bans while camping. I sure would not want to take the chance of an ember from my campground fire or BBQ causing all that destruction.

For some of the type fire questions brought up in this thread, usually those can be found online. For instance, I live in the mountains but still part of Jefferson County in CO, the Sheriff's department has updates on our current Stage 2 Fire Ban and you can see what is and isn't banned in Jeffco, CO,

Jeffco, CO Stage 2 Fire Ban Detail

Jeffco, CO Fire Ban Picture Dictionary

ktmrfs wrote:

IMHO the best firepit is a old washing machine drum. we have one I carry along, use it for fire, and virtually all our cooking. virtually no smoke and lots of heat, and cuts down on the wood useage as well. I welded three nuts on the bottom with long bolts so I can raise it up if needed, and built a shelf to put inside when used for cooking, and a weber grill replacement usually is a perfect fit on the top.

Mean one of these?



CG in Westport, WA had these at the sites.

One of the real reasons for the fire bans is not really the fire itself it's the sparks from the fire being carried by wind. With propane you don't have to worry about sparks of course.

Sometimes it is not the fire you "need," it is the illusion of fire. Maybe a tray full of little battery-operated flickering tea light candles?

WA State Parks allow propane fire pits, but they must have a modulated flame, that you are able to control with a knob on the fire pit itself, not just the valve on the propane tank. The ranger wanted to see ours before we used it.