How To Keep Your Campfire Or Fire Pit Safe

Smokey Bear’s 80th: Here Are Some Campfire Tips In His Honor

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Roasting marshmallows and stirring the coals is a time-honored tradition for many, whether at home or camping in nature.

“Everyone loves a campfire,” James Heaton, with the USDA Forest Service, told us in a recent interview.

We met at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee with Heaton and several other experts to talk about ways you can help prevent wildfires. Our get-together was in honor of Smokey Bear’s 80th birthday.

W​hat To Do Before Starting A Campfire

“The first thing we recommend is that people always check the weather forecast before they consider building a fire, to make sure that there's no high winds, low humidity, any kind of weather conditions that may trigger a wildfire event,” Heaton said.

Where and how you make your fire are the next steps to consider.

“You want to try to build your fire in a metal ring or a ring of rocks,” Alden Webb, a field technician with the Tennessee Division of Forestry, said. “You always want to keep it away from trees that are above you, and limbs.”

Campfires should be at least 15 feet away from anything else on the campsite.

The fire should always be under adult supervision, and never left unattended.

“We recommend that they always have at least a shovel or some kind of a scraping tool and a vessel of water, whether it be a bucket or a water bottle,” Heaton said.

Those tools are also important for putting out a campfire or fire pit before leaving it or going to bed.

H​ow To Put Out A Campfire

Heaton and Webb recommend following a four-step process: drown, stir, drown, feel.

“Drown the campfire until you don't see any visible flames or visible coals,” Webb said.

Next, stir the fire around in the ashes. Then, drown it in water again.

Finally, feel for residual warmth.

“If you feel heat on the back of your hand, it's too hot to leave your campfire,” Webb said.

Visit smokeybear.com for more wildfire prevention tips.

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Weather.com reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.