One of the segments on the TV show I mentioned will be about building a safe campfire in the wilderness. I didn't see much on the subject in the Knowledge Archives but if I missed it I'd appreciate a pointer. Then I decided to take a look at "wikiHow" to see how this was presented there...

Build-a-Campfire

I didn't like some of their advice much and these parts really bugged me.

Quote:
Whenever you go into the woods, take multiple sources of fire with you.


Among those suggested:

Quote:


Steel wool and a 9-volt battery: Steel wool is flammable, and placing both contacts of a 9-volt against the mesh creates a great deal of heat. Keep them separated in your gear.

Home-made solutions: rubber-banded strike-anywhere matches doused in paraffin wax, model rocket engines, road flares and commercial products.



The "model rocket engines" suggestion is incredible. I have some experience (when I was 12 or 13 years old) pounding the powder out of one of those and igniting it and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, especially as a means to start a fire in the wilderness.

Quote:
# To build a fire that leaves an even smaller impact on the surroundings:

1. Locate a source of disturbed soil such as a toppled tree or collapsed embankment.
2. Spread a tarp on the intended location of the fire.
3. Mound soil from the already disturbed site on top of the tarp. Apply copious amounts of earth to ensure that the ground is well insulated from the BLAZE


And nowhere did they mention checking with the NF Service or local Fire Dept or other agency or the internet to find out the current Fire Weather Threat Forecast, which is something I always do.

NOAA Fire Weather Threat Prediction

Anyway, I think I'll start by writing down some basic safety rules, then move on to finding fuel, then starting a fire, maintaining it, extinguishing it, and restoring the area.

We'll speaking to the Ozarks specifically but still I thought it might be best to run it by you all and maybe we could come up with some basic guidelines and then perhaps some more specific to geographic locations and weather conditions and post it here.

Thanks,

Bill