Anyone even considering a wood fire or wood stove in the parched far west right now should be stood up in front of a firing squad at sunrise! Fines are not enough! While the area west of the Cascades in Washington and Northern Oregon has recently received some (not enough) rain, anything farther south or east of the Cascade Crest is tinder-dry--explosively so. Millions of acres have burned, a lot of unique wilderness areas (where the fires were let burn, not due to policy--suspended due to the abnormally dry conditions--but to lack of firefighting resources) are now gone, many people have lost their homes and livelihoods (ranchers whose grazing area is now gone, businesses--and therefore jobs--gone), three firefighters killed, more injured. I wonder what is needed to convince folks like this to stop encouraging the building of fires!

Aside from those considerations, what's this about using rocks around the fire? First, the rocks hide a lot of still hot embers. Second, pouring water on hot rocks can be dangerous--I've seen them explode! Plus, while they did at least put the fire on gravel (no organic material) soil, that sure doesn't look like a three feet-wide area of bare ground between the fire and surrounding vegetation. And I don't call piling the rocks at the edge of the cleared area "disestablishing" the fire ring! The rocks (once cold, if used) should be thrown off into the bushes so nobody else is tempted to build a fire at that spot.

Fire rings also attract a lot of garbage, another reason for not using them and "disestablishing" them wherever they are found.

I must admit I couldn't get the sound to work (strange computer, since I'm away from home), but I saw enough to be horrified, like balzaccom!