Firewood

Richard,

Too many people can't tell the difference between a campfire and a bonfire. We reckon a campfire uses the minimum amount of fuel needed to cook and maybe provide a bit of warmth for an hour or two. It can be a good social focus point too. A lot of urban folk seem to remember it as something to do with cracker night with flames metres high. No - you're not soft, just conservative and sensible.

Cheers

John

We are with you too Richard - I will add that some people don't seem to be able to build a fire that doesn't smoke excessively and don't care if the smoke heads straight to the neighboring caravans either.

Stepping up on my soapbox! I hate the fact that in areas with very sparse timber growth some campers will rip out any twig and sapling, even if they are green thus denying the wildlife a place to shelter of feed. Off my box before I go on forever.

I think you are correct about it being city guys too! Mostly that is, ekkkk.... Ducking for cover now.

Cheers

Sue
Karratha WA

Perhaps they should pay a carbon tax

G'Day Richard,

It really gets my back up when I see people have large bonfires with no consideration for other campers in regards to using all the firewood. Its also important habitat for our native wildlife.

A while ago I was camped at a National Park where firewood was scarce & a group came in built a bonfire & used most of the timber that had been bought in by the ranger. He was not a happy chap but he came over to our camp & gave us some wood because he saw our small fire & said he would not replenish the main supply until people could be more responsible with their fires.

Good on you for putting forward this question.

Cheers
Stu

Probably depends on your view of why you are there Richard.

You may have a view that its about keeping you warm and or cooking, but in that area there you often get large groups who may go there just once a year and a big fire is really meant as a social focus point.
Going out and getting the firewood together becomes part of the fun.

In these later cases its not about the minimum necessary but about a memorable occasion and a big fire often helps.

The regulations say fire size is 1 meter max and any piece of wood is to be no longer than 1 meter, but this is widely ignored. A unintended consequence of complying with this is more chainsaw use.

Provided there is common sense then I tend not to worry to much about what others do.

The good will generated more than makes up for the odd excessive size fire !

Once upon a time an American Indian observed a camp fire lit by white settlers and made the following comment.
"Silly white man keeps warm by running to get wood for a fire he can't sit near.......American Indian, he has little fire,uses little wood and sits up close to his fire.

Who's the smart one then?

Disco.

If someone wants to bring their own (legally sourced) wood, are not annoying anyone else, and not causing a hazard... why not? Years back me and mates would light a decent fire and sit around it until the early hours, cooking spuds, spinning yarns, and sinking a few drinks. It was always a great time. Conversly, if you want to cook some food, sit for an hour or two, then hit the sack, then a modest fire makes sense.

I am not sure it is "dem city folk" that always light big fires. I live in a small country town and if anyone lights a fire here it is always bigger than texas and usually started with a liberal application of flammable liquid.

I do dismay at the level of damage people do when they "gather" wood at camp though.... very destructive.

We usually take firewood with us and we use a choofer which really doesnt use much wood at all
Use it for cooking then heating afterwoods

This is why we brought a Oz-Pig, do not need a lot of timber, great for cooking on and will keep four people pretty warm.

It all depends on location.

In some parts of the Vic High Country you do them a favour by reducing the fuel load. In other areas people strip the camping areas of available wood. Bringing the wood in from further away helps, but from my observation, there are too many vehicles out there that can't or won't carry firewood from outside their campsites.

Different story in most parts of South Australia. In 2012, all fires in Witjira Natinal Park will be banned - there's just too many people travelling thru the Simpson Desert and the wood collection is not sustainable. Similar story in the Flinders Ranges - good firewood is becoming scarce as tourism increases.Great Victoria Desert doesn't get the same tourist load, so a decent fire is OK.

Hi Richard,

I like to have a fire when camping but usually it wouldn't be more then a metre in diameter. It usually is burning for most of the night (at least the time we are sitting around it).

600mm might seem excessive but if there is a group of 20 or so, It would need to be a bonfire to keep every warm on a chilly night. (I personally dont know why someone would like to camp with that many ppl, Its one reason I go camping to get away from the crowds.

A fire is prob the best part of camping. There is something magical about a fire out camping.

Cheers Wilko

Love the fire.
Sizes we use vary from a foot across to 1.5 m with a chimney in it.
The chimney is a bit of a party trick where you get a hollow log up to 6 foot long, cut a gap out of the base to let the fire in & stand it up in the middle of your fire. The bigger the diameter the log & the hollow the better. Big bangers 2 foot in diameter that take 2 good men to carry are the go.
Once the fire takes hold it can shoot sparks 20 feet into the air.
Drop in some copper or aluminium or other combustible metal & you get incredible coloured flames.
Drop in a 600 ml plastic softy bottle full of petrol & you get 20 foot flames.
The ultimate one is to drop in one of those portable butane gas canisters.
Man does that have a effect.
If you are dropping in the gas canister you have to do it while the log is still quite solid so it doesn't blow the side out of it.


What I can't stand is those people who have to light their fire on a new spot every time & you end up with a camping area full of old fire places.

When camping at our favourite locations for more that 2 days, we always have a fire.
Sometines big, sometimes small, but never out of control, and always take into consideration which way the wind is blowing, and have a jerry or a bucket of water handy....Just in case.

Most important, we have alternative cooking, on the fire, if bans are in place.

Always common sence, and caution used.
Shoulder height fired are dangerous, and not always warm.
Red hot coals are the order of the day.

Chers
Bucky

At our last camp just 4 months ago there was a father and son from down south of Colac near us , they reckoned that they had stumbled across this great camping spot on the Murray river with plenty of firewood about and they would have to keep the location "under their hat".....the problem was that they were burning a ute load of wood each night, thankfully they were only there for four nights...at the rate they were burning the wood I do hope that they do not go back there for a while because very soon there will be none left for them or anyone else...they reckoned that they were top bushmen.....yair sure

I suppose it's a matter of if the fire was appropiate for the area at the time & seeing we had a little bushfire a few years back that has left a billon tonnes of dry dead wood in the High Country, that Sheepyard is a nice wide open area & that it was cold last week I say why not.
As long as max wood length is no more than a metre, consideration is given to minimising the number of scortch marks, collecting away from the camp, no trees are fallen & fire risk is minimal then light up. If you want to sit around a bush pig burning eco logs then each to their own ;-) Of course the same fire up the Murray or out the desert would be totally innaproppiate.
Cheers Craig........

A little hint when lighting fires locals call it a Fraser island firelighter.
Take an empty beer can and cut top off it then fill with sand to top,Fill the can with petrol or flammable liquid Place can in fireplace and put a match to it will burn without exploding for approx 20 minutes long enough to get fire going even without kindling.