I started backpacking and camping when I was 13, and I’m now 70. I’m a 57-year wilderness veteran, Queen Scout (U.K. equivalent of an Eagle Scout), Sierra Club member, champion of outdoor ethics, and I don’t like open wood fires (too dangerous).
So how do I explain the fact that I burned down almost a square mile of wild grassland? And what can I say that might help prevent this from happening to anyone else?
1. Think “fire.” When we picked our campsite, I was thinking flat area, water, beautiful view. In my over-confidence, I barely gave a thought to what should have been my No. 1 priority: a safe area for a fire, clear of any vegetation.
2. Think “wind.” The wind blows down the Lost Coast hard, which is why everyone hikes north-to-south. We’d been seduced by the previous half-hour lull, instead of assuming that the next big gust might be seconds away.
3. Think “stove safety.” Hundreds of safe, non-eventful lightings of our stove led to a sense of complacency. Stoves are not foolproof. They can leak. Fuel left in the bowl does evaporate — fast, as we found out. A Coleman-fuel stove like ours sometimes blows out in wind. If it does, it should be allowed to cool before re-lighting, to prevent flare-ups.
This article appears in The Fireball.
I know it was an accident, but by the way guys, those rocks around your campsite, they didn’t come from the beach. Heads up:)
I really appreciated this article and this follow-up. I too have been backpacking all my life (I am 73). I have used stoves of all kinds including the Whisperlight that caused all this trouble, though i switched to a canister stove quite a while ago. My wife is a fanatic about fire safety and has probably kept me out of trouble for which I am grateful.
But the message here is you cannot be too careful, and clearing a wide space around your stove is well worth extra safety it brings, no matter what kind of stove you use.
First thing the BLM officer asked was, “Have you cleaned your stove?” The idea was, if there had been grass under the stove, it would have burned the bottom of our stove would be sooty. (It wasn’t.)
In our case, the clearing of grass out to the requisite (fire permit) 5 ft. radius was a moot point, because the fireball jumped–no other word for it!–to the tinder-dry grassy bank maybe 10 feet away.
So my REAL mistake was not paying attention to the wind, that and the maybe 15 second delay in lighting the priming fuel.
As I say, humbling.
1. About hiking from North to South – getting to Shelter Cove has nothing to do with it 😉