Outdoors

POSTED: Saturday, Jun. 20, 2009

THREE THINGS: Safety first when it comes to fire

Fundamental to survival in and enjoyment of the outdoors is the safe and considerate use of fire or flame.

Heat from open flame fulfills two practical needs: warmth and a place to prepare food.

In addition, campfires impart a feeling of well-being as well as pleasant aesthetic quality to the experience of being outside.

They are in a class of their own when it comes to discussion of their pros and cons and according to the doctrine of many leave-no-trace practitioners are acceptable in careful, disciplined and limited use.

However, in some designated wildernesses areas open fires are now banned at all times and on occasion seasonally illegal in other backcountry areas and private property.

In the spectrum of practical alternatives (for cooking and water heating), gas-supplied (white gas, kerosene, propane or butane) stoves are the norm for backpackers and campers. Here are others:

1. Wood

In recent years, backcountry ingenuity and innovation has produced fiber-fueled cooking stoves that are lighter in weight but still relatively efficient. These are the original solid fuel stoves that are designed to burn any combustible cellulose materials including wood, dried plant stalks or grass. They contain and focus the flame and heat for quicker cooking time, reduce the risk of conflagration and even corral residual ash for burial or pack-out. Fuel is often free and you don't need to carry it.

2. Alcohol

An ever increasingly popular mode in backpacking equipment is the make-your-own type of gear. Among improvisations that have surfaced through the Internet are designs and instructions for making relatively safe alcohol stoves from soda cans. Alcohol burns at a lower temperature than most fossil fuels which reduces its efficiency but such compact stoves, either commercially or home- made, heat water well for one-pot meals and beverages for the solo backpacker.

3. Solid

Cube or solid fuel burners, like their alcohol counterparts, are attractive for their weight-saving characteristic, but they do have temperature and duration of burn to replenishment limitations similar to alcohol stoves. Both fuels are most effective when used in shielded, specially designed containers. Many modern cube or solid fuel formulations are non-toxic and non-explosive, ignite easily, burn at high temperatures and won't melt as they combust. They fire easily in the rain and at high altitude.

In using any camp cooking stove, wind shielding as well as cooking utensil design both effect overall heating time and preparation efficiency.

Most stoves, even the makeshift alcohols, will bring a small amount of water to a boil and that's the first order of business in meal prep on the trail.

Cooking stoves also rank among that category of camping equipment, of which, an outdoors enthusiast may have several, each for different conditions or kinds of outings.

For examples of small wood-burning stoves look up the Littlbug or for compact solid fuel burning stoves, check out the Esbit line of emergency, pocket and cook set stove systems on the Web.

Source: Leavenotracedude.com, Esbit.com and Littlbug.com