Re: Camp fires

In article <44dbf2c2$0$3568$815e3792@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Ed Huesers <ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Chris Townsend wrote:
Campers carelessness caused a big forest fire near here recently.
Eugene Miya writes
That's common around CA.
Chris Townsend wrote:
People who don't know how to light fires tend to build big ones and let
them get out of control.
The bigger problem is thinking they put it out and it comes back.
People don't realise just what will burn - roots, peat, pine duff.

I think Eugene is talking more of the giant piles of coals that the
inexperienced end up with when it is time to leave.

More or less.

It's a product of a 50s-60s education campaign to dowse fires with water
when leaving in a hurry rather than learn to plan out the combustion.
It was something I learned in my first 1-2 years of learning skills in
the field. And not something covered except I think later I saw some of
this in the Scout literature.

Fires were a bigger problem then both urban and ruralfor people.

I've come across piles of coals that were out but still a foot deep.
Over the years it has become one of my pet peeves. People kicking or
knocking the fire all the time so it *burns better*. It just makes a
huge pile of coals and ashes that can take a week to burn up.

Ineffective dowsing. It's amazing how small a spark you need to start a
fire. The recent French students I took to Yosemite were capable
of exploiting tiny sparks most urban Americans would write off.
One grew up near a forest in the S., and both were in the French
military (one their special forces). So it wasn't like they completely
lacked training.

I gently pick up my coals and put them on top of the fire so they
burn up. When I leave camp, I can blow the ashes away and the ground
will be bare. Nearly all my fires are in existing fire pits though and I
end up burning the pile of coals left by the last person. Those fires
end up being a pretty large pile of ashes that can't be blown away.
Ashes tend to get pretty heavy when they've been worked enough to burn
up the dead coals that are in them.

I can do minus fires, stars or moon are fine (nice moon rising last
evening no problems flying). But occasionlly one can be OK, just follow
the regs. We are in synch.

And then there's the ones that *burn up* the aluminum, they should
work at a foundry and get some experience.

Hey casting Al is fun.
What? they don't teach metal shop these days?

--
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: New Laws of Physics
    ... We have a very interesting class of "oxygen free" fires around here. ... They are called cotton module fires. ... These burn from the inside out in total absence of oxygen or air. ... spontaneous combustion of hay was a frequently claimed ...
    (sci.energy.hydrogen)
  • Re: whats your favorite piece of backpacking gear?
    ... Add in reducing large trunks and boughs to firewood. ... I have better things to do with my time than cut wood to make a 'pretty' pile. ... I guess I was taught young to make 'trapper' fires where the long pieces hang out the back side of the fire and get fed in as they burn. ...
    (rec.backcountry)
  • Re: No Nukes in Space
    ... A few of those coal mine fires are still burning and cover hundreds of ... are ignited by lightning that burn for hundreds of years. ... I always thought it would be interesting to build a power plant on top of a fairly shallow coal vein, and burn it in situ to generate heat that would be used to generate steam to power the turbines via drill holes that have closed loop water pipes in them. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Ping Myal:
    ... greenhouse gasses produced as iregular natural high intensity burns tho? ... I think the natural base load of CO2, etc emissions would have been the same yearly average whether it burnt intensely or burn slighlty each year. ... The problems with humans is that they light fires more frequently on top of the naturally occurring fires. ...
    (misc.survivalism)
  • A Scroll / George Dance
    ... A scent of smoke; a dolorous cry: ... Ashes, ashes for their doom." ... Safely in the south land, ... Will I watch those fires burn? ...
    (rec.arts.poems)
Loading