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BOY SCOUT TROOP 702 – Columbia, Missouri
Scout Skills Series

Fire Safety

Fire is your friend but it also commands respect. Even a small fire, if located in the wrong place, can spread to become a forest fire burning out of control.

· The best place to build a fire is on solid rock, mineral soil, or sand. Fires built on dry grass, leaves, evergreen needles, or dead roots are forest fire hazards.

• Foil, metal oil pans, and metal pans for water heaters all make nice places to build fires on, especially when practicing "leave no trace" camping.
• If the ground is dry, scrape down to bare earth. In winter dig down to dirt, or stomp down the snow if it is deep. If the snow is very deep, a small fire can be lit on top of a layer of green logs.
• Never build a fire against an old stump.
• Build the fire next to water, or have a supply of sand nearby, in case the fire needs to be extinguished quickly.
• Never build a fire under a tree, especially in winter. Hot air and smoke rising from a fire can cause melting snow to slump off the tree and fall in the fire. It can also ignite dry humus and leaves to set the tree on fire.

Knowing how to extinguish a fire properly is as important as knowing how to start one.

· Break up the fire with a stick and spread out the coals evenly.

· If water is available, sprinkle it over the coals while stirring them with a stick. Continue sprinkling water until the coals are cool enough to touch. Do not to pour large quantities of water on hot coals, lest a sudden rush of steam burn you or any bystanders.

· If water is not available, dig a hole or trench, dump in the hot coals, add dirt, stir the dirt thoroughly through the hot coals, and cover with dirt at least two inches deep. Buried embers can continue to smolder for quite awhile, so check them frequently, and don't leave until all the coals are cool enough to touch.

Some definite things NOT to do with fire or around it and violating these rules will get a Scout sent home regardless of what time of the day or night it is:

· Don’t poke the fire with sticks or other objects.

· Don’t burn trash in it.

· Under no circumstances should a Scout spray a flammable liquid near or on a fire … or otherwise misuse flammable liquids with fires

· Do not play games with fire or hot coals or be deliberately careless with fire.