Tips for Campfire Safety

Discussion Time

Before lighting a fire with your children or group the most important first step is to have a chat about it! Early communication is key in getting everyone prepared. 
Having a group discussion and putting boundaries in place together can help children to take ownership of whatever safety measures you would like to put in place. 

Some questions to help get the discussion going could include: 

• What is fire and how does it work?
• What do we use it for?
• What are the potential dangers?
• What boundaries are we going to put in place to keep everyone safe?

Discuss the safety rules and boundaries and how everyone can work together to implement them. Asking the children to think of any possible risks themselves, helps them to develop their 'risk assessment' skills that we all use subconsciously in our day to day lives!

Establish a Boundary

Once all have agreed on the safety rules, be sure that reminders are given before each campfire activity.

Marking a boundary around your fire area using a circle of logs is a great way to help children to visualise the boundary and create a 'no go' zone. The edge of your boundary should be a minimum of 1.5 metres (ideally more like 2+ metres) on all sides from the central fire pit or area.
Remember as adults we also need to be modelling expected behaviours such as: monitoring the fire and the group at all times, walking around the outside of the fire/log circle instead of across, keeping hair tied back etc.

Having a small number of ‘cooking places’ set at safe distances for activities that require you to approach the fire closer (eg. cooking on a stick) naturally limits the number of children accessing the fire at any one time, which helps you to monitor the situation closely. Once a place becomes available as one child finishes cooking, you can then invite someone else to come closer.

You can also encourage children to use the 'respect position' when near the fire; this involves kneeling but with one knee raised and that foot flat on the floor. This position makes it easy to lean forward and cook or tend to the fire, but also means you are ready to move away quickly if needed.

Try practicing moving around and within the fire area long before the fire is ever lit. This will help to instil confidence in them (and you!) that they are able to practice and observe safe practice.

Prepare What you Need

As well as preparing the children through discussion, ensuring you have the right fuel and equipment you need is another important aspect of preparation. We've put together a list of essentials to collate before you start lighting your campfire!

• Fire pit: a fire wok or bowl contains the fire and keeps embers off the ground (which is safer for the environment) and enables you to 'leave no trace' when you've finished.
• Plenty of dry tinder, kindling and logs: will help to get your fire lit and established quickly (Our natural flamer fire lighters are really handy when time is of the essence!)
• Bucket of water: for putting out a fire quickly if needed or pouring water onto fingers/hands in the event of burns. Checkout our bright red metal fire buckets which make a great visual reminder! 
• First aid kit: including burns gels (specific burns kit available here or our general outdoor first aid kits also contain burns gel)
• Fire gloves: for adjusting cooking pots, trivets or if you need to adjust logs (however remember - they are heat resistant but not completely heat proof!)
• Fire blanket: fire blankets are a quick and efficient way to smother a fire in an emergency.

If you're in need of the safety equipment mentioned above check out our popular Fire Safety Kit.
For fire lighting equipment including fire strikers and kindling see our range here.
And if you're looking for tripods, cooking stands, pots and trivets for cooking on see our range here!

Using campfires effectively for cooking is an acquired art – deciding on what to cook depends on how much time and how many adults you have available to ensure that the fire is never left unattended. If you only have an hour or so then it might be best to plan something simple like cooking cinnamon dusted apple pieces on a stick, (Grandpas fire forks are brilliant for this!) if you have all morning then maybe a heartwarming vegetable soup or something in the Dutch Oven might be a better choice. 
The best results will always come from cooking over embers rather than flames so allow time for your fire to become established. Take a look at our Campfire Lay Styles blog for some inspiration on different ways to start your campfire.

We hope that these reminders have been a useful prompt for campfire planning and we wish you a safe and successful campfire session!

Don't forget - there are lots of other things we've not mentioned to consider before lighting a fire, including location, weather conditions and other safety measures that will be relevant depending on your own personal setting and group. These should all be covered in your risk assessments and policies and procedures when working with groups or in educational settings.

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Disclaimer: These blogs are designed to be helpful tips and advice from our experience in the outdoors, but they are not a complete guide and are not a substitute for proper training and leader qualifications. We would always recommend that anyone wanting to lead fire lighting or tool use sessions with groups undertake training and professional development. Outdoor Learning Resources Ltd accept no liability for any situation or damage that arises when using or implementing the information shared.