How to extinguish a campfire
If you’ve read my bio, you know that I’m a volunteer with the National Forest Service. On my patrol hikes, one of my responsibilities is dismantling makeshift fire pits at illicit campsites. Occasionally, my colleagues and I stumble upon a fire that is still smoldering. Today, the fire remnants we found was next level.
Really guys? Really?!
Not only was it still smoldering, its creators had dragged massive logs into the fire pit, allowed them to burn partially, and then left them protruding from the pit, smoldering, and superheating the ground around the pit. There was risk of the embers within the pit reigniting, there was risk of the logs catching and reigniting, AND there was risk of the logs igniting the ground around the pit or worse, the roots of the surrounding trees.
Campfires are great, but unless they’re properly extinguished, they hold the power to destroy the areas we all love. So, let’s make sure we put them out correctly, shall we?
1.) Drown with water
Letting the fire burn down to embers isn’t enough to avoid risk. Neither is just dumping a liter of water on it and calling it a day. To thoroughly deaden a fire, the first thing you need to do is drown it with water until all embers, not just the red ones, are extinguished.
Pro Tip: You’ll know you’ve extinguished the embers when they stop hissing.
2.) Mix a slurry
Photo Credit: Wil Stewart on Unsplash
To make sure that the embers are cool all the way through, mix them into a slurry allowing the cool wet embers to mix with the still warm ones underneath. Continue to pour water on the embers as you mix them.
Don’t have water? You can also mix in dirt or sand.
3.) Contain fuel
Photo Credit: Justin Leniger on Unsplash
Make sure that any material you were using to fuel your fire is contained in the fire pit. Do not allow long logs or sticks to protrude out of the pit. Scrape any sticks and logs with a shovel or rock to remove remaining embers and mix these into the slurry.
4.) Rinse & Repeat
Continue pouring water on fire and surrounding rocks until the rocks, coals, and ground around the fire pit are cool to the touch.