Preventing Forest Fires

[trader]

What are some of the different ways you put out your campfires so as not to start a forest fire? And how long do you wait to leave after you put it out, to make sure that it's totally out?

[northernbushape]

It depends on the area. We are usually near water so generally we will pour a few buckets of water over the coals before we leave. If there is no water close by - which is rare for us, then we bury the coals with sand or dirt to smother it. It's good to give the ground a good soaking where the fire was too so that there are no coals smoldering below the surface where you may not see them.

We don't generally stick around long as we ensure the fire and coals are completely out before we leave. On the morning we are leaving we will also use only what wood we know will completely burn before we need to leave. Any extra is just left for the next users.

[jason]

NorthenBushApe said it best. Usually the morning we leave we soak the fire with our left our water/ice. Then we usually ad some sand to it. Sometimes the night before we only add a minimum amount of wood so that the fire has died down for the morning.

[Luvoutdoors]

We usually don't have a very big fire the night before we leave and we always douse the fire pit with water and sand before we leave.

[failghe]

I always soak the coals/ash with water in the morning before we leave. After all the steam has finished if there is any, then I use a stick to stir it up to make sure that the water has gone down to the bottom layer. At home in the fire pit I just let it burn down till it burns itself out. But I am there to keep an eye on it.