In this article we highlight how to make a campfire work the hardest for you!

With any campfire, you'll spend significant time and effort to prepare, light and maintain the flames - that effort you expend should reflect the purpose of that fire, and the environment you are in.

Every campfire fundamentally turns fuel into heat and releases carbon dioxide, so we want to maximise the efficiency of the use of that heat, such that we spend less time collecting and preparing fuel, and so that the impact on the wider environment (by release of previously captured carbon, or even the reduction of woodland habitat) is minimised.

Combine Different Uses for a Fire

For outdoor living, whether on a weekend camp, day hike, emergency survival, or longer term off-grid, being able to make a fire is invaluable.

• Direct cooking, of raw ingredients or reheating packaged foods.
• Creating charcoal, to be used for water filtering, drawing/colouring, or as a fuel.
• Personal comfort, such as radiant heat or for drying clothing.
• Water cleansing, boiling filtered water to kill bacteria.
• Tool crafting, hardening wooden tools or burning out bowls.

Where possible, multiple activities should be combined simultaneously, to capture and make use of as much of the heat as possible, reducing waste of effort, carbon release, and fuel.

Appropriate Fire Construction

Fundamentally any fire is good, but different purposes or situations may benefit from different size or duration of campfire.

The choice of fuel is relevant.

• different timber characteristics - such as ash as high-heat output, oak as long burning, birch with low smoke
• sourcing of timber - to minimise disruption on wildlife, gather fuel using foraging principles; do not take it all from one area, and be conscious of where and how you are moving through woodlands when gathering.
• man-made fuels - often in compact and portable containers, usually petroleum based or alcohol based

A hearth, is an important focus in spirituality and folklore, and as a base for a fire, to minimise damage to an area. Its construction depends on the expected duration of the camp or campfire.

• For a semi-permanent fire, it is good to have a surround made of stones, or larger logs, sometime part buried, to provide a visible and stable boundary, which will also contain the embers. From this basic hearth, additional features can be added, such as raised walls for supporting a large pan or griddle, and maybe overhead hooks suspended from a crossbar or angled stave.

• If the campfire is temporary, such as for an overnight resting place, a simpler hearth may be made by removing turf, or creating a similar cleared bare-earth area. Ideally a temporary fire would be raised off this earth, say on a stone, to reduce heating of the ground and risk of uncontrolled fire spreading, but if this is not possible, the ground must be cooled (via water or leaving uncovered) once the fire is out, before restoring to its original state.

Extension of the Campfire Value

To further make use of the fire, consider the following, particularly once a fire is reduced to embers (such as later in an evening).

• Place stones around the fire, to absorb heat usable for personal warmth or for heating water elsewhere (maybe hot stone massage even!). be careful before picking up a stone, as they may be too hot to handle safely, and do not place stones directly in the fire or embers as this may make them heat too quickly and shatter.
• Root vegetables such as potatoes can be placed in the embers, and may be cooked over the following hours. Best to continue the efforts from a midday campfire, to provide a later meal.
• Specific fungi can be ignited from the campfire, if you are wanting to rekindle a fire later maybe even elsewhere, and will remain smouldering (we tend to find most of king alfred's cakes aka crampballs, or horsehoof bracket fungus. Carry the smouldering fungus in a solid container such as a food tin, lined with damp moss to prevent the tin becoming too hot to handle, and hold this separate from your rucksack and clothing, then use it to light a tinder bundle when needed, to reduce the effort to firelighting.