Check the ban before you pack the axe
Fire restrictions change weekly in dry summers. Check the land agency website the morning you leave, not the week before. A ban can cover an entire national forest or only the ridge above 1,500 meters.
Stage 1 restrictions usually allow a fire in a designated ring. Stage 2 bans all fires, including charcoal and sometimes gas stoves. If the sign at the trailhead says no fire, that overrides anything you read online.
Clear the ground and look up
Use an existing ring if there is one. If not, build on bare soil or rock, at least 3 meters from tents, bushes and overhanging branches. Clear a 2-meter circle down to mineral soil, and scrape away roots and needles.
Look up before you light. A branch 4 meters overhead can catch from a flame 1 meter high. Also check the wind: a steady 15 km/h breeze will carry embers into dry grass 10 meters away.
- Clear 2 meters around the fire to bare soil.
- Keep tents at least 3 meters away.
- No branches within 4 meters overhead.
- Never light up in tall dry grass.
- Keep a full water container within arm reach.
Keep it small
A cooking fire does not need to be big. A ring 60 centimeters across with flames under knee height is enough for a group of four. Big fires throw more embers and are harder to control.
Use dead and downed wood only, no thicker than your wrist. Break it by hand rather than cutting live trees. A fire built from small wood burns hot, leaves less ash, and goes out faster.
Put it out cold
Drown the fire with water, stir the ashes with a stick, and drown it again. Repeat until you can hold the back of your hand close to the ash and feel no heat. That is the only test that counts.
Do not bury a fire and assume it is out. Coals can smolder underground for days and surface in the wind. If it is too hot to touch, it is too hot to leave.
Wind, embers and the walk away
If the wind picks up above about 20 km/h, put the fire out. Embers travel farther than people expect, and a single spark in dry grass can start something you cannot stop.
Before you leave camp, walk a 10-meter circle around the ring and look for sparks or glowing pieces. Do it again after you have packed. The second look catches what the first one missed.
When a fire is not worth it
In late summer, after a week without rain, a stove is the better choice. It boils water in 3 minutes, leaves no ash, and works in a ban. Dinner is not less fun because it came from a canister.
If you want the atmosphere of a fire, use a lantern and sit closer. The conversation is the same, and nobody has to wake up at midnight to check the coals.
