Welcome back Canna Campers! In this Base Camp blog, we will discuss a simple but critical subject: Extinguishing Campfires.
Wait! Before you say “ I know how to extinguish a campfire!” Around 85% of wildfires are started by humans!
We aren’t saying campers cause all wildfires because that isn’t true, but the ones that were caused by campers probably had at least one person in the group who said ”I know how to extinguish a campfire, no problem!”
Properly extinguishing a campfire is really simple but there are a few mistakes people make and the first mistake usually is:
Not bringing enough water. There have been many blog posts and discussions on how much water you should bring when you go camping, while it varies by where and what kind of camping you will be embarking on, our general rule of thumb is to bring two or three gallons more than you originally planned on taking. You can always bring extra water back but unless you have magical powers, you probably can’t create water out of thin air.
While water alone isn’t the only way to extinguish a campfire a lot of campers also make the mistake of:
Not bringing a camping shovel. Camping shovels are an inexpensive and crucial piece of camping gear that can aid in extinguishing a fire, you do not have to spend much on a camping shovel, a cheap one will do, if you have the room you could even bring a full-sized shovel to make life that much easier.
Extinguishing a fire with a shovel is easy, especially if you have to dig your own fire pit. You should always reuse the dirt you removed to fill in your firepit anyway, so letting the fire naturally die out and then throwing the dirt you used to dig the fire pit back over the coals, making sure to cover the coals with dirt completely, can be a great idea and also a great way to conserve water!
The most common but also the most improperly performed way of extinguishing campfires:
Flood it with water. While this is the first choice for most people, the one critical issue most people make is not using enough water ( and no you can't pee enough to put out the fire...plus that's gross.) When we say “you should be able to float a
boat in it”, we are not exaggerating, the amount of water most people use to extinguish a fire is far too little, you should be able to, in theory, float a toy boat in the amount of water remaining in the firepit, only after the fire has burned down to embers.
While both of these methods will work, we consider the best way to extinguish a fire is a combination of the two.
First, let the fire burn down to embers(so plan to add those last logs accordingly).
Then drown the fire in enough water to “float a boat!”
Followed by the fill dirt you used to dig out your firepit.
Using these simple steps will ensure you have properly extinguished the campfire leaving the area for yourself and others to enjoy for years to come.
Well, that pretty much sums it up, if you are still unclear on how to properly extinguish a campfire, reach out to us through Twitter(X) or our email and we will be happy to give you more tips!
Check back next week for more awesome tips and information in another Base Camp blog!