Campfire Rules and Safety: Before, During and After

Before you light a campfire, confirm that fires are allowed where you are today. Use an existing ring, keep the fire small, and stay with it until it is out. To extinguish it, drown the coals, stir them, and feel for heat until the ashes are cold. If it is dry or windy, use a stove.

Step one: find out if fires are allowed

Fire rules are set by the land manager and can change week to week. Agencies and counties issue restrictions when conditions are dry, and those restrictions often come in stages, from limits on where you can have a fire to total bans on open flames. The stage names and what they cover differ between agencies, so read the actual order rather than relying on a summary.

Where to check, in rough order of reliability:

• The website or recorded phone line of the managing forest, BLM field office, state agency or county
• Signs at trailheads and campground entrances, which may be more current than the web
• State and local fire authorities, which often post burn bans separately from land managers
• The National Weather Service for the fire-weather outlook and Red Flag Warnings, which flag conditions where fires spread quickly

If you cannot confirm that fires are allowed, assume they are not. Stoves are often permitted when open fires are banned, but even that depends on the order: some restrictions require stoves with a shutoff valve, or limit stove use to cleared sites. Read the fine print for your area.

Where you can have a fire

Rules also decide where a fire can go, not only whether it can. Some areas limit fires to designated rings or grills in developed campgrounds. Some dispersed areas allow fires only in existing rings, and some alpine and desert areas prohibit them entirely. Wilderness and backcountry areas often have special rules that discourage fires.

The details for public land are covered in dispersed camping rules for national forest and BLM land.

Private land adds another layer. A host or landowner can ban fires even when public law would allow them, and their reasons, such as nearby crops, dry timber or an insurance policy, are valid. Always ask before lighting a fire, and read the property rules; private-land camping etiquette explains what hosts commonly expect.

Choosing the spot

A good fire site is bare, level ground, well away from anything that can burn. Use an existing fire ring where you can, instead of making a new one, because every new ring is a permanent scar on the landscape.

• Clear a patch of ground down to bare mineral soil, removing leaves, needles and grass for several feet around
• Stay clear of tents, tarps, gear and vehicles, and well away from overhanging branches, dead limbs and brush
• Avoid roots, peaty soil and duff, which can smolder underground and re-ignite later
• Do not build a fire in high wind. If the wind picks up after you start, put it out
• Keep the fire downwind of your shelter, with a clear space around it that you can step through quickly

Building and running a safe fire

Small is safer. A fire the size of a dinner plate gives plenty of warmth and cooking heat, uses far less wood and is easier to put out. Start with tinder, add kindling, and build up slowly with sticks no thicker than your wrist.

Know where your wood comes from. In many places collecting dead and down wood is allowed for campfires, but some areas prohibit gathering or require a permit. Buying firewood near where you will burn it helps avoid spreading insects and tree diseases, so it is better not to carry it long distances. Never cut live trees or branches, and never burn trash, plastic or treated lumber.

Keep a bucket of water, a shovel and your attention on the fire whenever it is lit. Do not use gasoline or other flammable liquids to start it, and keep the fuel for your stove well away.

Children and pets need a clear boundary, and a responsible adult should always be assigned to watch the fire. Never leave it, even for a quick walk. Sparks can travel, and a burning log can roll in minutes.

Putting it out for good

A campfire is not out until it is cold. Allow the wood to burn down to ash well before you plan to leave or sleep, then follow three steps.

1. Drown it. Pour water on the fire slowly until the hissing stops, covering all embers and the edges of the ring.
2. Stir it. Use a stick or shovel to turn the ashes and coals, and keep adding water to anything that still steams.
3. Feel it. Hold the back of your hand near the ashes. If you cannot comfortably touch it, it is still too hot.

Repeat until you see no steam and feel no warmth. Do not bury a fire, because buried coals can stay hot for a long time and ignite roots. If water is scarce, stir the embers together with dirt or sand and keep checking by touch until nothing is warm.

Pack out unburned trash, and scatter cold ashes only if your area allows it. Do not leave half-burned logs and foil in the ring. Before you leave, check the ring once more.

When a stove or lantern is the better choice

Some of the best camps have no fire at all. A small stove boils water in minutes, works in wind with a screen, and can be shut off instantly. A lantern or headlamp gives better light for reading maps and cleaning up than flickering firelight.

• During dry, hot or windy periods when even a legal fire is risky
• In places with few trees, where all the wood would have to be carried in
• When you only need a hot meal or a drink, not an evening around the flames
• When you are camping at a new place and are unsure of the local rule
• When the group includes small children or pets that cannot be watched constantly

Even when open fires are fine, stoves cut impact. They leave no scar on the ground and don’t depend on finding wood. Beginners should practice with a stove at home before the trip.

Smoke, charcoal and other safety issues

Wood smoke irritates lungs, especially for children and people with asthma. Sit on the upwind side and avoid burning damp or green wood, which smokes heavily. Never use a charcoal grill, stove or heater inside a tent or vehicle, because they give off carbon monoxide, which is odorless and can kill.

Charcoal briquettes can stay hot for hours after they look finished. Soak them like any other fire, and never put hot coals in plastic or a trash bag. If your clothing or a child’s clothing catches fire, the standard advice is stop, drop and roll rather than run.

If a fire escapes

If a fire spreads beyond your ring and you cannot extinguish it immediately with water or dirt, do not try to fight a growing fire. Get everyone to safety, then call 911 or the local emergency number as soon as you have signal, and give clear directions to your location. If there is no signal, move to a place where you can reach help and report it. That is why the care at every step above matters.

For the habits that lower fire impact in general, the Leave No Trace principles are a good companion, and beginners can fold fire planning into the first-time backcountry camping checklist. The WildPass safety page has more on preparing for a trip, and the Explore map and state camping hubs help you find places to camp where you can plan around the rules.