Does anyone else hate camp fires?

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by fmrcaptevil

Hi Jeff, we're at Babler through the end of next month; (wife volunteers in the visitor center in exchange for an electric site). Stop by sometime.....look for the site with an Airstream and no campfire.

Ha! I live about two miles from there. As a matter of fact I use the dump station there to empty tanks etc. I will be by next Tuesday. I'm taking the Bambi in for repairs. A tree limb crashed down on it a few months ago during one of the storms.
Let me know if you want to use the washer/dryer, etc.. I will stop by.
I have been in Babler a million times. Hope you are enjoying it.

Jeff

[fmr.capt.evi]

Thanks, Jeff, appreciate the generous offer. Meanwhile, as the chances for rain this weekend increase, so does my hope of not having to do a campfire.....I may not have to fake an aneurysm, now, to get out of it.

[SilverGate]

During one of our stays at Agua Caliente County Park, a camper with a big rig next to us insisted on having a campfire every night even though his wood was wet causing profuse smoke and “sparks flew over and around our trailer, requiring the closure of all vents, windows, and awnings”, as noted in my post:

http://airstreamlife.com/historysafa...-and-dreamers/

More data is becoming available about the dangers of campfires:

Several sources (including the EPA) indicate that campfire smoke is 12 times as carcinogenic as tobacco smoke and stays chemically active in the body 40 times longer than cigarette smoke:


Summer Health Myths Debunked - CBS News
The Health Hazards of Wood Smoke


One other camper's experience:


http://airstreamlife.com/maze/2013/0...moke-we-arent/



We once had campfires... but no longer!

[Ridgerunner3]

My experience with camp fires in recent years has not been good.

Recently while traveling we stayed in a commercial campground in Nebraska with very tight camp sites. The guy next to us had his own portable fire pit that he placed within a couple of feet of our trailer. His fire would have damaged our trailer without a doubt. He was unwilling to move his fire pit before lighting. The campground owner was unwilling to ask him to move his fire pit. So we moved our rig to get away from him.

It seems more common these days for people to burn very green wood, treated lumber, and garbage. I would prefer to be in a campground without camp fires.

[Bruce B]

There is something primal about fire!
A good campfire is one of life's great pleasures if it is done properly...
We use a portable fire pit and it burns nicely as long as you have access to dry wood.
Dry wood is the problem. So many campgrounds require that wood be purchased locally and the wood provided is wet and green, a disaster in terms of smoke. No joy there....
Bruce

[Protagonist]

As a solo camper, I never have a campfire. Not much point to it; campfires are for camaraderie. Put me in a group and it's a different story. Then, and only then, do I like campfires.

What I don't like is ignorant yahoos that build bonfires with flames 10 feet high and call them campfires. Ever since the Veterans Day weekend at Sam Rayburn Lake, where some ignorant yahoo (not a member of our rally group) did exactly that, right across the way from where I was parked, on a windy night in the piney woods. I spent the whole evening ready to evacuate in case the fire got out of control, and that was NO fun at all!

Please, if you're going to build a campfire, keep it as small as possible. No need to burn a whole forest when a couple of logs will do.

[AWCHIEF]

I used to try to have real wood fires, but decided that they were more trouble than they were worth. Still wanted to have fire so bought one of these:


Fire Dancer, works great, no muss, no fuss. Puts out some heat and much safer and cleaner than a wood fire.

[Jared129]

Last summer I witnessed on two separate occasions, campers lighting their campfires with the large propane ice melters. They would hook up their rigs propane tank, build a large pile of cordwood in the fireplace (no kindling needed here) and hold it until coals were present. Scared the crap out of us at first....that and he was a little too close for comfort.

[Jared129]

Originally Posted by Jared129

Last summer I witnessed on two separate occasions, campers lighting their campfires with the large propane ice melters. They would hook up their rigs propane tank, build a large pile of cordwood in the fireplace (no kindling needed here) and hold it until coals were present. Scared the crap out of us at first....that and he was a little too close for comfort.

http://www.flameengineering.com/Red_...e_Torch_K.html

Something similar to this....

[Len n Jeanne]

Like most other things in life, campfires can be made responsibly or irresponsibly. Nobody should make a campfire that is dangerous, including one left unattended. As in, didn't the campfire slobs go to boy scout camp or something?

Sort of like hunting: there are responsible hunters and slob hunters.

We make small campfires when we can, mostly for grilling and Dutch oven purposes, but occasionally for evening entertainment. Only once did someone complain about smoke, and then we quickly did what we could to rectify it.

Of course, if there's a fire ban in effect, end of issue.

Our bigger concerns are:

1. breathing fumes from generators and listening to the roar all around the campground (yes, we have one, too.)

2. Being surrounded by huge white-box 5th wheels with slide-outs and monster motor homes that shut out the view in National Park campgrounds.

3. Noisy inconsiderate people, esp. late at night.

It's gotten to the point where old-fashioned camping has virtually disappeared. RVers travel in houses on wheels, surrounded cheek-by-jowel with other houses on wheels. What ever happened to getting close to Nature? Are we all so terribly urbanized and domesticated?

[jdalrymple]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

What ever happened to getting close to Nature? Are we all so terribly urbanized and domesticated?

Advocating against campfires certainly makes it seem so.



Regards,

JD

[masseyfarm]

History is always good to review in disputes such as this.

"The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven: and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind."
Thomas Jefferson, 1813

Maybe the campgrounds should be divided into, smoking/non smoking, fires/no fires, gensets/no gensets, children/no children, pet/ no pets/ real people/ those that should have stayed home.

Dave

[RUMSHIP]

I love a good campfire. I must say though ive had some bad ones. Doing as told by the campground, i put water on my fire pit before going to bed. The next night, steam generator. Im sure there were some people going WTF. The best way to avoid campfires, families with children cooking marshmallows and smors, groups gathering for the evening for fellowship and fun, is to camp in your driveway, or a large paved rv park that has no fires allowed.

[RUMSHIP]

A great fire..

[HeadWest]

Originally Posted by masseyfarm

History is always good to review in disputes such as this.


Maybe the campgrounds should be divided into, smoking/non smoking, fires/no fires, gensets/no gensets, children/no children, pet/ no pets/ real people/ those that should have stayed home.

Dave

We also need an area for vegetarians so they don't have to smell animals cooking on grills.

[SteSpot]

Fires generally don't get me up on a bandwagon either pro or against but our last camping experience was not fun. We were downwind from a couple (think the guy did the fire thing) who started a big roaring fire daily around noon with mostly no one sitting by it. They burned things (mostly wood) that smoked badly. We had to close our windows, door and fans/vents to keep the smoke out of our trailer. We should have moved to another spot right away but when we checked with the park management, we were told they were leaving in the morning but they stayed the whole week we were there....about mid-week the guy upended the heavy picnic table at the woman at about 10 pm. That manuver sort of creased the fir pit in half....so we had a brief respite from smoke until they managed to straighten out their fire pit....oh, the joys of camping.....

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

Only once did someone complain about smoke...

Well we never complain, because they are allowed to have the fires. But we don't go back to where we've been annoyed.

Originally Posted by Len n Jeanne

It's gotten to the point where old-fashioned camping has virtually disappeared.

Right. To me, RVing is not camping. Camping is when I'm in a tent carrying what I need on my back. Taking 5,000 lbs. of stuff along is not camping. A campground is a city to me. We don't have neighbors we can see at home, only when we are in a campground. "Look! There are kids riding bicycles on the road!"

That's why cities have rules to protect everybody's rights, like campground rules. A "no fires" section would be welcomed, just as "no generator" sections exist.

[cwf]

I don't hate campfires. I DO especially DISLIKE inconsiderate people. Making a fire where it wafts into a nearby space is unacceptable, discourteous and likely to receive a fire extinguisher test.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by cwf

I don't hate campfires. I DO especially DISLIKE inconsiderate people. Making a fire where it wafts into a nearby space is unacceptable, discourteous and likely to receive a fire extinguisher test.

There are more 'bad campfire builders' than 'bad campfires'...

Our last outing, the neighbor built a fire 14' from the front of his camper...10' from our bedroom window...oh, and the wind was blowing toward our camper. I almost asked them to place their chairs between the fire and our camper...if they couldn't stand the smoke, neither could we.

[Rollster]

Funny, but in all the years I've been camping, I've never been bothered by anyone's campfire except once, when the wind changed direction, smoke from my own fire blew into my camper and set off the smoke alarm, which of course, took a few minutes to silence in our panic and embarrassment! But really, sitting around a small, well-burning fire under the stars with good friends, good conversation, and some strawberry marshmallows is one of the great pleasures of the camping experience.