Proper Way to Put Out a Camp Fire

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A roaring fire is both a success, and a responsibility. It is your job to properly maintain and extinguish your campfire so that future campers can do the same.

Maintaining Your Campfire
As you’re enjoying your campfire, remember these safety tips:

Once you have a strong fire going, add larger pieces of dry wood to keep it burning steadily
Keep your fire to a manageable size
Make sure children and pets are supervised when near the fire
Never leave your campfire unattended
Never cut live trees or branches from live trees

Extinguishing Your Campfire

When you’re ready to put out your fire and call it a night, follow these guidelines:
Allow the wood to burn completely to ash, if possible
Pour lots of water on the fire, drown ALL embers, not just the red ones
Pour until hissing sound stops
Stir the campfire ashes and embers with a shovel
Scrape the sticks and logs to remove any embers
Stir and make sure everything is wet and they are cold to the touch
If you do not have water, use dirt. Mix enough dirt or sand with the embers. Continue adding and stirring until all material is cool.

Remember: do NOT bury the fire as the fire will continue to smolder and could catch roots on fire that will eventually get to the surface and start a wildfire.

REMEMBER: If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave!

Excerpt from: www.smokeybear.com