Camp Fire Safety Tips For Summer 2019

6/26/2019 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Oregon City/Sandy wants to keep you safe this camping season

It's that time of the year again, camping season! SERVPRO of Oregon City/Sandy wants to keep you and your family safe by providing some tips on how to pick a campfire spot, prepare and build your fire, and extinguish it! 

How to Pick a Campfire Spot

1. DO NOT build a campfire if the campground, area or event rules prohibit them.
2. DO NOT build a campfire in hazardous, dry conditions.
3. Find Out if the campground has an existing fire ring or fire pit.
4. If there is not an existing fire pit, and pits are allowed, choose a site at least 15 feet from tent walls, shrubs, trees or other flammable objects. Beware of low-hanging branches.
5. Choose an open, level location away from fuels such as logs, brush or decaying leaves.
6. Take wind, and its direction, into account when choosing the site. Choose a spot that’s protected from gusts.

How to Prepare your Campfire Pit

1. Clear a 10-foot-diameter area around the site. Remove any grass, twigs, leaves and firewood.
2. Dig a pit in the dirt, about a foot deep.
3. Circle the pit with rocks.
4. Your campfire pit is built and ready for building a campfire!

How to Build Your Campfire

1. Make sure you have a source of water, a bucket and shovel nearby at all times.
2. Gather three types of wood from the ground. Never cut whole trees or branches, dead or alive. Live materials won’t burn, and you’ll be damaging the forest. Dead standing trees often are homes for birds and other wildlife.
   1. Tinder: Small twigs and dry leaves grass and needles.
   2. Kindling: Sticks smaller than 1″ around.
   3. Fuel: Larger pieces of wood. Keep these stacked upwind, away from the fire.
3. Loosely pile a few handfuls of tinder in the center of the fire pit.
4. Ignite the tinder with a match or lighter.
5. Wait until the match is cold, and discard it into the fire.
6. Add kindling and fuel, the larger firewood, as it grows and to keep it going.
7. Keep the fire small and under control.

How to Extinguish your Campfire

Allow the wood to burn completely to ash, if possible.

1. Pour lots of water on the fire. Drown ALL embers, not just the red ones. Pour until hissing sound stops.
2. If you do not have water, stir dirt or sand into the embers with a shovel to bury the fire.
3. With your shovel, scrape any remaining sticks and logs to remove any embers. Make sure that no embers are exposed and still smoldering.
4. Continue adding water, dirt or sand and stirring with a shovel until all material is cool.
5. Remember: If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave. Pack it in, Pack it out. It is your responsibility to pack out everything that you packed in, including any trash.

Whether it’s giving tips on fire safety or providing 24/7 emergency services, SERVPRO of Oregon City/Sandy is here to help! Call us today at (503) 655-7735.