How to Build a Campfire

Gathering around a warm campfire is one of life’s simple pleasures. Whether you’re camping or just cozying up in your backyard, it’s the prefect way to to sit back and relax with your loved ones. You can cook s’mores, tell ghost stories, and just have a good time with the people around you.

But if you’re new to building bonfires or have had trouble starting one in the past, you might feel a little unsure of where to begin. That’s why Blain’s Farm & Fleet is here to help you create the perfect campfire that will burn for hours.

1. Making the Fire Pit

If your campsite doesn’t have a designated fire site or you’re out in the wilderness, you’ll need to make a fire pit. Choose a location that’s away from trees, shrubs, or any other plants.

If there aren’t any bare spots around your campsite, make one. Rake and dig away plants. You need bare earth for your fire pit. Be especially careful to rid the area of dry grass, bark, and branches, which can easily catch fire. You can keep these materials for tinder and kindling.

Make a small hole for the fire pit, and surround it with rocks to keep your fire from falling apart. You can also use a fire ring to keep it concealed.

2. Gathering Your Materials

To build a successful campfire, you’ll need three types of materials:

1. Tinder: Materials that will catch fire easily, such as dry leaves, pine needles, or paper.
2. Kindling: Materials that burn slower than tinder, but still help build your fire, like small sticks and twigs.
3. Logs: Larger pieces of wood that will keep you fire burning for hours.

Only use logs from the area you’re camping in. You don’t have to find giant logs to get your fire burning.

Make sure the tinder, kindling, and logs are dry. Wet firewood can still burn, but will produce more smoke than dry logs. Wet wood will also make your fire much harder to start.

For a little extra support, you can also use a fire starter to help get your fire going.

3. Laying the Fire

Put tinder in the middle of your fire pit. Make a teepee of kindling around the tinder. Leave an opening on the side the wind is blowing against.

The wind will blow the flames on the kindling. And you’ll be able to light the fire with a flint striker, matches or a lighter.

There are a few different options when it comes to setting up your firewood.

Log Cabin Fire

Once you have your kindling and tinder set, it’s time to lay the firewood. The name of this method kind of explains how the fire will be set up.

Lay down two pieces of firewood on opposite sides of the teepee. Stack more firewood across the first two pieces, running parallel. Continue building the fire with shorter and smaller pieces to make a pyramid or cabin shape.

A log cabin fire is sturdy, burns for a long time, and makes great coals, perfect for campfire cooking.

Teepee Fire

To create a teepee fire, continue making a teepee shape around your kindling. Add larger kindling around the smaller kindling. Set up pieces of firewood around the kindling and tinder to create a teepee.

This may require some patience, as kindling and firewood can collapse. Once it’s lit, it will collapse, but you can add more firewood.

Teepee fire lays are great because the construction allows heat to easily rise from the tinder and kindling.

4. Putting out the Fire

When you’re done with your fire, you need to put it out completely. Drown out the fire with a bucket of water. Once you’ve poured a bucket of water on the fire, stir the wet embers and soil with a shovel or stick.

Once everything in the fire pit is completely wet, hold your hand over the embers and coals to determine if they’re still hot. It’s also important to check underneath the rocks around the pit for hidden lit embers.

Douse the fire with water once more. A good rule of thumb is if the fire pit is too hot for you to touch, it’s too hot for you to leave.

A good campfire can enhance any camping trip. Just remember, to create the perfect campfire, you need to have the right materials and a lot of patience.

For more tips and how-tos like this one, check out our other Camping articles.