3.0turbob replied:

"extinguishment" ? - I like that

Always a "hot" topic of discussion.

Member - Duncs replied:

You make some good points bushfix, and it is a good topic to revisit periodically. There are new people reading this stuff every day. Not all of them are experienced campers some may not have even thought about this at all.

The point I would like to pick up on is that water is precious in the desert. You are very right and most people carry enough for the basics but if anything goes wrong then a lot of people will be in trouble.

Can I suggest that a properly managed fire will not require the use of water to extinguish. The first step towards this is keep the fire to a reasonable size. Firewood is also precious, especially at the popular spots. If you are putting water on it to put it out then you are wasting both water and wood. Most of the timber found in desert areas is very dry and will burn away to virtually nothing. Timing this to coincide with your departure is not all that difficult and removes the need for a big mound of dirt.

How many times have we all seen the kids adding fuel to a fire while dad is hooking up the camper or tying down the roof rack. On the morning you are leaving stop adding fuel to the fire as soon as you finish cooking, Spread the fire out and let it cool naturally while you are breaking camp. Yes there will probably be some hot spots left when it is time to climb into the car and drive off, any heavy ones can be pushed into the ground and the light stuff can be covered with a thin layer of dirt/sand or simply trampled into the ground. The main thing this does is stop it blowing around or rekindling in the breeze.

As you have suggested bushfix if there is anything left after all this your sons will love to play fireman to finish off the blacking out.

Well done mate keep us all thinking about how we care for the areas we so love to visit.

Duncs

Smudger replied:

G'day Bushfix,
Good post, no-one likes to be told how to suck eggs, but a lot of people I speak out there are first timers, or have virtually no experience with rough camping.
Wherever possible I dig a small shallow hole to light my fires in, raking the llitter to one side and scraping the sand around the edges to form a wall. Mostly, depending on the situation and conditions, we leave the embers to burn out overnight. Usually a few twigs will kick start a small breakfast fire, which as you said is easily extinguished ..save the washing up water for this. Embers must be put out, or kids will get burnt. Drag the sand back over the fire hole and then rake the original litter over that, and you'll leave the place looking pristine.
Same goes for toilet pits, and the paper should be burnt in the hole before filling it in. Last trip north the amount of toilet paper blowing around the freebies was quite off-putting.
I'm sure that it's inexperience, because most people we meet out there love and respect the bush, but not everyone has had the same education in bushcraft.

Member - Davoe (Yalgoo) replied:

Depends
Usually by morning the fire has burnt out leaving embers.
I try not to re ignitee it and i fI do I keep it small. When finished spread the ash to cool them down. They completly die quickly like this but will last days if covered with sand

Member - Phil G (SA) replied:

Like you say there's many schools of thought. We usually drive past the popular camps and prefer to camp in virgin areas on the desert trips, and naturally like to leave no trace.

Our preference is to dig a trench for the fire.
We use small wood on it in the morning for the billy and toast.
Before breaking camp, a couple of shovels of coals go down the long drop hole - helps burn away some of the paper which is then buried.
Then the trench is filled in - usually not much evidence that we've camped. We'd never use water on a fire.

As for the unsightly heaped up mounds - we often shovel it all away under a tree somewhere, and get it back to being flat.

Member - Duncan W (WA) replied:

One of my pet annoyances is that alot of people make their camp fires way to big. You see them sitting 3m or so away fromtheir fire because they are too damned hot to get close to. Ok I'll be the 1st to admit that there is nothing cosier than a roaring fire but realistically you don't need it.

Build a fire big enough to keep warm and cook your meals. When you go to bed drag large unburnt logs/branches clear of the heat.

Next morning if a fire is needed for cooking or burning rubbish a small fire is all that is needed. The unburnt or partially burnt timber, take it with you for the next camp or stack it for the next crowd. Wood is scarse in many parts - termites work wonders with decent fire wood.

If you have dug a decent sized fire pit cleaning up in the morning should be easy and clean. Use washing up water to cool the fire, and washing water etc.

DB replied:

I am really glad to see this topic discussed every now and then.

When we were up at cape york last year my four year old got very badly burned feet. This was despite my KNOWING that young children, bare feet and fires are a danger. However, he was burnt not at our fire, but at an adjacent one - people had pulled out that morning and had not properly extinguished their fire. They had sprinkled dirt/sand over it. My lad had seen some fully etinguished cold fires around and assumed this was also cold - but not!
I look back and think how lucky we were not to have him airlifted out to a burns unit - we sat for five hours with his feet in a bucket, gave panadol (later realised I actually had stronger pain relief for kids, but forgot it in the moment), then for the next four days he would play for an hour then sit for an hour with his feet in the bucket. I don't know how we got through those first few nights as he was in a great deal of pain tossing and turning with feet uunder the covers.

We spent an extra four days at Archer River so he mostly spent all day playing in the water of the river to cope with the blisters on his feet and toes.

This would not have happened if people were more aware of how their fire place affects others. (OK - if he was wearng shoes it wouldn't have happened either!) But we were at Coen River and I found people just set up their own fire place wherever suited them -all over the place by the river - and perhaps with such a heavily used campsite it would help if people tried to mark a fire area and re-use that.

Still - back to your main point - I agree that people need to really make sure their fire is out and especially don't cover with sand if it is a commonly used camping area.

OK - have spent 12 months wanting to get that off my chest!

Liz

Member - Adam S (SA) replied:

This is the result of people thinking covering a fire with sand or dirt is okay.
This is one of my 5 year olds feet after he ran though a fire covered with sand in the Archer River the other foot was just as bad.
I realize he should of had something on feet but they had been paddling in the water and running around having fun like kids tend to do.
What annoys me the most was the water in river was flowing less than 3 metres away.

The end result was alot of unnecessary pain and two trips to hospital,Lockart River and Pormpuraaw.