A bonfire is a must for every camping trip! It provides more than warmth; it can also be your cooking area, your light source at night, and your group’s gathering spot. But if you’ve never built one before, it can be quite frustrating, especially when you’re trying to make one from scratch. Remember that you can always use lighters and matches to set it ablaze; it’s the setting up and gathering of materials that make it such fun to build with your family and friends. If you want to learn how to build a campfire, safely, then keep reading!

Before we get to the step-by-step guide, here are a few things to remember:

1. Safety is your number-one priority. Setting up a campfire is fun and is a must for all camping expeditions, but you must remember that it’s also risky if not done right. If you have kids, it’s best to have them gather wood while the adults handle the setup.
2. Carefully check the area. Before digging your pit, look around and above your chosen spot and make sure that there are no plants or other items that could possibly catch fire. Unexpectedly fierce flames can turn into something bigger and pose a danger to your campsite, your family’s lives, and the surrounding countryside.
3. Make sure the firepit is a safe distance from your campsite. There should be at least 5 feet of clear space around the pit at all times, and any flammable items should be even farther back.
4. At least one person should always be watching the fire. Leaving it burning while you sleep is not recommended. It is also important to keep an eye out for kids or pets walking/running around the fire.
5. Keep water nearby, enough to extinguish the fire easily in the event of an emergency. Being able to put the fire out is just as important as being able to build one!

It’s better if your campground has a designated pit or campfire circle, but if it doesn’t, then carry on with building one. Here’s how to build a campfire:

• Step 1: Make sure that there is no grass around, because it may start a wildfire. If there is no clear area, you can make one by pulling or raking out all plant material. Then dig a pit about 12 inches deep. Make some sort of wall around the edge using the dirt you’ve dug up. This will serve as the marker for where you’re going to put the rocks.
• Step 2: Gather large rocks and put them around the wall of your firepit. Then use small rocks and pebbles to fill in the crevices between the larger rocks. You can also fill the pit bottom with smaller rocks. This is to ensure that the fire stays inside the pit instead of escaping to start a wildfire.
• Step 3: Gather firewood. Good firewood is usually easy to find at campsites. Remember that you shouldn’t break off twigs and branches from trees; green wood doesn’t burn well, and it will ruin the campsite and hurt Mother Nature too! There are three kinds of firewood, classified according to size and how long they burn for.
  • Tinder: No, not the dating app. Small pieces of firewood that catch fire easily are called tinder. Leaves, wood shavings, bark, newspapers, dry grass, and other such objects make good tinder as long as they’re dry. It’s often easiest to bring some tinder from home, because you may not find any at the campsite, or if you do it may be wet. Having good tinder is important because this is what will serve as the ‘base’ of the fire.
  • Kindling: To keep the fire burning, you will have to add thicker, longer-lasting objects to your tinder. Twigs that are a little bit thicker than pencils will do the trick. The kindling will serve as the ‘walls’ of your fire. It is just as important to have the kindling be dry as the tinder, or else it will have a hard time catching fire.
  • Fuelwood: Fuelwood is the thickest of the three types of firewood. It doesn’t have to look like logs, but it should be pretty thick. Around 5 inches in diameter is great.
• Step 4: Lay your fire. There are four common ways to lay a fire: Teepee, Lean-to, Log Cabin or Pyramid, and Star. The Teepee is the most basic, and the other ways are based on it. Here is how to do it: The Teepee is cone-shaped. To build it, pile your tinder in the middle of the pit. Stick a piece of kindling into the ground in the middle of the tinder pile. This stick will serve as the base for the remaining kindling. Place the rest of kindling around it in a circle, with one end of each piece resting on the vertical stick and the other on the ground. It should look like a cone or pyramid. Leave a
  • quarter of the circumference open to let the air in. It’s best if the opening faces upwind so that you won’t need to spend a lot of time fanning the fire once it’s lit.
• Step 5: Light the fire. Start by lighting the tinder. You can use matches or a long lighter, but if you are adept at making fire from scratch, then that’s the most satisfying way! Make sure that the tinder is well lit. If there isn’t much wind, fan the open side of the teepee until the kindling catches fire too. The teepee will eventually fall down. Once this happens, you can start adding your fuelwood to keep the fire going. Just add one piece of fuelwood at a time, because adding a lot at once may extinguish the fire. And don’t let the fire become too big for the pit you’ve made!

You now have your campfire! Start roasting your marshmallows and cooking your hotdogs! Enjoy camping!