The Case For Killing The Camp Fire

I live in a fairly densely populated area where there is not much space between houses. On every cool evening, when you'd love to have the windows open, half the neighborhood lights up backyard bonfires. Our next-door neighbor has a fire pit literally right below our bedroom window.

My husband has respiratory issues, and even with all the windows closed, he has trouble breathing when wood smoke is in the air. I have appealed to our neighbors for help, but nothing must get in the way of their fun. Summer and fall evenings are very stressful as we wait for the smoke to start pouring in.

I get having a fire (responsibly) while camping or if you are on a large piece of land with no neighbors close by. But it has no place in urban/suburban environments. It's just pollution.

I’m also amazed when parents who would NEVER let someone smoke around their children have no problem plunking their kids in front of a campfire for a few hours.

I don’t think most people really know the dangers of wood smoke.

vanityy99 wrote: »

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I live in a fairly densely populated area where there is not much space between houses. On every cool evening, when you'd love to have the windows open, half the neighborhood lights up backyard bonfires. Our next-door neighbor has a fire pit literally right below our bedroom window.

My husband has respiratory issues, and even with all the windows closed, he has trouble breathing when wood smoke is in the air. I have appealed to our neighbors for help, but nothing must get in the way of their fun. Summer and fall evenings are very stressful as we wait for the smoke to start pouring in.

I get having a fire (responsibly) while camping or if you are on a large piece of land with no neighbors close by. But it has no place in urban/suburban environments. It's just pollution.

The smoke still gets into the house with your windows closed??

Yes unfortunately. We have old windows, which I think are the culprit. I’ve been trying to save up to have them replaced.

vanityy99 wrote: »

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

I live in a fairly densely populated area where there is not much space between houses. On every cool evening, when you'd love to have the windows open, half the neighborhood lights up backyard bonfires. Our next-door neighbor has a fire pit literally right below our bedroom window.

My husband has respiratory issues, and even with all the windows closed, he has trouble breathing when wood smoke is in the air. I have appealed to our neighbors for help, but nothing must get in the way of their fun. Summer and fall evenings are very stressful as we wait for the smoke to start pouring in.

I get having a fire (responsibly) while camping or if you are on a large piece of land with no neighbors close by. But it has no place in urban/suburban environments. It's just pollution.

The smoke still gets into the house with your windows closed??

Of course it can. Wildfire smoke from hundreds of miles away can permeate your house with the windows closed. It happens in our area almost every summer. Do it’s not surprising that a small fire nearby could do the same. We can smell the smoke whenever someone in the neighborhood has a fire or illegal fireworks.

This concept has been on my mind lately. It seems the past several years in Colorado we have had fire bans due to drought and we've had several fires due to campfire carelessness.

My family and myself both camp and backpack. While we don't normally make a fire when backpacking, we really do enjoy one when car camping.

We are very careful with our fires by following campfire safety protocols. However everyone is not. As an avid hiker, I see the destruction caused by fires on a regular basis.

So is a campfire essential - not really. Does it cause enjoyment to our family - absolutely. Will campfires eventually be permanently banned - very possibly thanks to neglectful people.

Ummm you mess with my ability to occasionally make SMORES or grill a fresh caught fish over a Smokey wood fire mere yards from where I caught it... and where my bedroll is.

You ain’t gonna need to worry about bears...

When I think of the alleged negative points over a campfire I would imagine most of these are based in poor setup and construction.

A well built campfire should generate minimal smoke and be built to generate light and heat - the construction and fueling will vary depending on necessity.

The wildfire risk is a real concern and it is both obnoxious and sad that campfires may eventually be banned entirely due to some people's negligence. While I don't disagree with the other points in a purely factual sense, I don't think they are sufficient reasons to stop using camp fires. Yes deadwood does provide habitat, but it is rarely critical habitat or habitat for threatened or endangered species. And those critters would almost certainly die in a wildfire that lights up that deadwood. Leaving deadwood in place is added fuel for wildfires. In the US, forest managers are realizing that the previous thought of always putting out wildfires as well as other management principles has led to our forests becoming massively and dangerously overgrown. Responsible harvesting of both deadwood and live trees can reduce fuel loading while still maintaining a healthy and more resilient ecosystem. I know pollution from fires is a problem with large wildfires, especially crown fires, and in populated areas in which wood fires are the primary source of heating. Having said that, other sources of heating come with their own environmental risks and damages. For camping people can just suck it up and deal with the cold, but how is that done? Usually with manufactured products such as clothes, blankets, and hand and foot warmers. Is that actually environmentally better?

For now I will continue to have my wood fires while camping, unless banned in that area during that time or if it is really windy, and just drown them in water.