Camp fires

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Cheryl, you may be well advised to not chide those who have unnecessarily large campfires. There are certain egos at play! If they are of the type who NEED telling then they are of the type who would not accept being told, possibly aggressively so.

Agreed that firewood is a scarce commodity in most camping areas and conservation should be observed by all campers.

Agree 100%, though a larger group may need a larger fire.

Another thing I just don't understand is the creation of a fire scar just metres away from an existing one. Done often enough (and it is done often enough) it just messes up the campground. Many campgrounds now specify "No ground fires".

We find that a fire in a fire bucket made out of an old 9kg gas bottle and stood off the ground is perfectly adequate for a comfort fire and most over-the-fire type of cooking. Not so good for a camp oven, admittedly, but great for most other occasions. It uses less wood and doesn't leave a scar, or even scorch the grass. It packs up into a milk crate.

Nothing new in the pics below but posted FYI.

If we are going to have a ground campfire we usually reuse another "scar"
More recently we have started using a flat pack fire pit. Takes up little room when not using it & when set up keeps the fire off the ground.
Have always tried to only have a fire as small as possible. Had some Aboriginal workmates while I was living in Darwin back in the 80's that used to call a large fire a "Whitemans Fire" lol
With a big fire you have to move further away, We just sit closer to a small fire.
As said there's probably a few ego's involved in having a large fire.....
Cheers
Paul

I think you are right regarding egos Allan and I your friends Paul with their whiteman’s fire sounds about right too.

We also have a flat pack fire pit which gets a good work out. Your comment Frank about more and more camp areas requiring fires to be off the ground reminded me of a couple of nitwit young blocks at a coastal camping reserve a couple of years ago. They turned up after dark (probably so they didn’t have to pay the patrolling ranger), and despite large signs at the entrance saying no fires on the ground, they picked the nicest grass area and proceeded to clear/chop up a large circular area with their tomahawk only to then light a large fire. Arrrhh, I so wanted to point out the sign to them, but thought better of it.

Cheers, Cheryl

Oh yes we agree, keep the fire small please! You're not wasting wood. We supply firewood to our visitors as part of their camping fee and it's a big job to cut a trailer load of wood a couple of times a week. We also clean the fireplaces out at the end of our visitors stay and that way most people use the same fireplace thank goodness. We also ask that people leave the fire to burn out rather than put it out with water or bury it. It's much easier to clean out. And for God's sake don't burn all manner of rubbish in it that's not going to burn anyway - tins, alfoil etc. Cheers Toni

Agree Cheryl, although I'll put my hand up and acknowledge that many many many (cut with the many!) moons ago a group of us ended up with what was almost a bonfire one night on theOodnadatta track. Older, better educated and hopefully a bit wiser now (debatable) I'm surprised at the waste of resources and the size of some fires, although have to say they are in the minority these days.

Most amazing thing I saw recently was a retired bloke at a caves campground whose fire was initially throwing flames 3m high. The irony was that he was camped closest to the bush. I'm firmly in the camp of using what wood you need for cooking and enjoyment and leaving some for others, although I've seen plenty who just pile it on because they're moving on early the next day.

Something strangely comforting about gazing at glowing coals in a fire.