Wilderness Way Article

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 02-08-2010, 08:56 PM

OK THIS MAY SEEM CONTROVERSIAL. Mods feel free to do what you think is right and correct. However I do have permission to do this from the people involved as it does concern Copyright. This is an article in Wilderness Way Magazine. The Forum that this comes from is Dirttime.com. It is about Campfire safety.Sort of.These are the replies of the author, and the magazines Editor. First the Editor,Christopher Nyerges.

The mass media (in general) believes that we would be all safer if we were all disarmed. Despite the evidence to the contrary.

By the way, you should all copy Dude's article and send it to friends, family, and local media. If you need a hardcopy from Wilderness Way, give me you r address and I will send you one. email me at [email protected]

It is never a good thing to remain silent in a world where those with the lowest intelligence seem to have the loudest voices.

This is the Authors reply when I asked if it were OK to copy/paste this article. His name is Dude McLean.

Dude McLean
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Re: The Demonization of Campfires
« Reply #17 on: Today at 07:35:31 PM »
Reply with quoteQuote

The article is my copyright 2010, Dude Mclean , and it appears in Wilderness Way magazine.
As long as you say where it is from, Dirttime .com and the articles and the authors get credit, and the magazine then it is okay.
I am a huge believer in giving credit.
I am also a terror about copyright issues. I get royalties stolen from me everyday.
The internet and the users have screwed copyright owners, those who own intellectual properties, like me are losing bucks left and right. ... But that is another issue.

No matter where anyone gets the info they should always give credit.

go for it...

Dude...check yer6

This is their replies. Following is the Article.

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 02-08-2010, 08:57 PM

COMMENTARY ON FIRE -- published in Wilderness Way, Vol. 15, Issue 4

Demonizing The Campfire
By Dude Mclean, field editor, Wilderness Way

A “campfire,” Just the word alone conjures up a special picture for most of us.
Cavemen had campfires, and all indigenous peoples had them. It was not just for pleasure but to cook and stay warm, to keep back the unknown during the dark of night.

Bringing it right up to date, we have a long history and tradition in this country surrounding the campfire. It is legend. It seems to some to be part of our DNA, rushing through our blood from ancestors who are unknown but speaking to us through the campfire. It brings us a special message, a bonding of a kind we do not find elsewhere, when you have shared a campfire with friends and strangers alike.

Mental pictures of campfires are like a TV, flickering in front of our mind’s eye. Sitting around toasting marshmallows, cooking ash cakes, and a dutch oven sitting on the coals, at the same time keeping us warm. The smell of smoke and the glow of the coals, holding back the night, all this is hardwired into our DNA.

It seems like a gift we should always be able to use and to have when we need it. I cannot begin to relate all the collective memories millions of us have stored as a part of our outdoor experience around the campfire.

Assault Against the Campfire

Over the last 50 years and more, an unfair war has been waged against the campfire. And this battle has been waged against us, the campfire users, the real woods-runners, the hunters, the trekker, the casual camper -- anyone who uses a campfire. We are made out to be mad demons and stupid for wanting to be part of nature. A bunch of louts, and drunken bums starting fires in reckless abandon.

The campfire as we know it is slowly being taken away from us, by mostly well meaning but misinformed petty government workers on all levels. From the city, county, state and federal levels, it is a war against us, The Demons. It is a battle that has heated up over 50 years and continues as a hard core brainwashing of the public and themselves, demonizing the campfire. WE are the said Demons. We had a campfire, we are bad. It’s the law.

Getting Real

It is getting very difficult in many places to have a “legal” campfire. By legal I mean getting a permit! What? For a campfire!

The pitched battle rages on. An assault like no other on all outdoorsmen and women. And by now, most folks fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Campfires are bad, they start wild fires and cause billions of dollars worth of damages, etc. After all, man accounts for about 85% of all wild fires and forest fires. Well, that’s factual, but let’s go deeper.

I began to dig. I’m not happy with what I found. On the other hand it shows how we are not all that smart. And we are not the demons they make us out to be.

The road I took was amazing, I was astonished at the twists and turns. The maze of statistics that became meaningless in the redundant repetition. Finally a few breaks, buried deep within the right wording when doing a search on the net, finding the right set of documents; the wording has to be just right to find the real deal about forest fires, wild fires, “man made fires,” accidents, which are man-made or from lightning, etc. All things get lumped into a huge statistic, and it is very misleading. I am going to throw some statistics at you.

Gathering facts on Wild Fires, Forest Fires

West Virginia statistics for forest and wild fires, the cause: debris burning 32% (man-made fire), arson 35% (man-made fire), children 6% (man-made fire), equipment 12% (man-made fire), smokers 4% ( man-made fire), lightning 1% (not man-made), railroads 1%, and campfires stand at 2%! Very interesting. In a lot of cases, the “investigators” can claim it was a campfire when in fact all the evidence has been so trampled by fire fighters that if they find a “fire ring” somewhere, that is where the finger points, and it’s a done deal.

Fire is an exciting thing for many people for many different reasons. Serial arsonists are very seldom caught, and some go on for years and years. Solving arson-set fires stands at 10%. Not a very good track record.

Across the country, the statistics are about or close to the same for arson set fires. Of those arson fires, a shocking 30 to 35% are set by firefighters themselves! A forest service arson investigator is in prison for setting dozens if not hundreds of fires in southern California.

In another case, a volunteer fire fighter set wild fires. A serial arsonist used mosquito coils fit with a timing device. The mosquito coils are a clay-like substance and can smoulder for hours. These can be thrown from a moving car like a frisbee at high speed. The coils vanish as they turn to ash, they get trampled on or are washed away by water. Dozens of fires were most likely started by this method in Yolo County, California.

In 2008 over 800 fires were started by lightning in California. In 2000 more than 122, 000 wild fires ignited in the western mountainous states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. According to the data base complied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lightning starts almost 60% of all fires on “public lands” in these states. To date (2009), Yellowstone has had 15 fires, 13 by lightning. There was no other data on what caused the other two fires.

Damage by lightning is estimated at $4 to $6 billion a year.

More Statistics For Making Our Case

Department of Forestry statistics: Open burning or a “controlled”“ burn caused wild fires 30%, arson 20%, smokers 14%, house, cars, and aircraft, 11%, children 9%, equipment use 7%, rail roads 5%, lightning 5%, campfires 1%. You can see the statistics vary a bit from place to place, but the campfire, always remains at the bottom of the list.

A “prescribed fire” as opposed to a wildfire is supposed to be “contained.” In Arizona, 9/21/09 through 10/23/09, four fires of 2,100, 2,200, 2,800 acres each were “prescribed “ fires that went out of control. The National Interstate Fire Center reports that for Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, fires are from lightning, followed by trains, and machinery, sparks, and cigarette butts. Not one mention of campfires.

Answers.com “What is the main cause of wild fires?” My question and the answer is, In order, they are: Lightning, fireworks, debris burning, arson, slash and burn farming, lawn mowers, kids with fire works, cars, downed power-lines, pot growing operations, but not one word about campfires.

According to Interfire.org, wild fires in California, from 1997 to 2001, an average of 392 wild fires were arson, more common than by lightning. They also state animals short circuit powerlines and oil well drilling contribute their fair share also.

Campfires

Campfires or the remains of a campfire (i.e., the remains of a campfire, a circle of stones, a “dug pit” etc.) are often pointed out as the culprit with no evidence that these particular “campfires” started anything. They are just easy targets, and insurance companies want answers as well. The term “man-made” or human cause of wild fires is very misleading. It invites the mind to jump to conclusions. And the wrong conclusion most of the time. From these statistics, about 99% of the time.

Glass fragments with lens properties such as a concave reflecting light onto a small focus with the temperature in the 90s can start a fire. Human caused? Of course. This is from the “Kirks Fire Investigator,” NFPA by John Dehaan. What an eye-opener this book is. It is the bible for fire investigation, where I found the info above.

The Demon Is Not Us

The war against us and Campfires is way out of control and we are losing. Why? Simple “propaganda,” the railing about and against campfires, demonizing in its best suite. The propaganda is winning and we have bought into it for years. By the time my grandkids are young adults, no fires will be allowed anywhere if this nonsense keeps up.

Have campfires actually caused wild fires? Of course they have, but not on the massive scale we are led to believe -- not even close.

What we need is proper education in the preparing of a campfire space, choosing the right place for the campfire, the importance of what can happen, how fast a fire can get away from us, a bucket of water, and shovel for dirt – these are no- brainers. It is really pretty easy for the responsible camper to use a bit of common sense, and the skills to handle the situation.

You do not need a giant blazing monster to cook with – that’s only in the movies. You need to be prudent and clear the forest duff at least 3 feet around the chosen spot, and watch the overhead and the wind. These things are easy to handle with the right skills, observation, and education.
Campfires are a part of our heritage, our tradition, and we just should not stand back and let them take it away from. In light of the misleading statistics, we are being demonized because we are an obvious target, and an easily-brainwashed target at that. W When you consider that we account for 1% and maybe less of all wildfires, we should not even be on the radar. The big deal is arson -- and many times arson from within the ranks. I’m not taking a low shot at the brave firefighters -- not even close. But the facts are there and cannot be denied. These men do put their lives on the line, and unfortunately they lose those lives because of sick renegade firefighter arsonists and other reasons. By the same token we do not want them to continue to make us the demons; we just want our campfire.

“Going green,” by the way, is part of fire. Many plants, such as oaks, manzanitas, and many others, cannot grow well without fire. Fire is not the demon and neither are campfires.

**your_comforting_company** · 02-08-2010, 10:40 PM

Smokey the Bear has always poured down our throats about preventing forest fires.. it seems all the other fires are the real problem. Lack of fire causes more out of control fires than anything else!
Campers are not the enemy! First thing is to teach fire safety and responsibility at an early age. we had a discussion a while back about this so I'll let that be 'nuff sed.

**crashdive123** · 02-08-2010, 11:19 PM

Now if we could just do something about all that lightning.

**Rick** · 02-08-2010, 11:25 PM

What does one have to do with the other? So what if lightening is the chief cause? Does that mean we should allow anyone to build a fire anywhere? Come on guys. You know as well as I do that there are a LOT of folks out there than can't be trusted with matches anywhere. What's the big deal with relegating fires to a fire ring? It contains the fire in most cases and it establishes where the fire should be so the entire area isn't burned black. I've left camping areas where the fire rings were recipients of trash, diapers, dog poo and every other imaginable thing. People are just stupid when outdoors. I'm sure Dude and everyone else will be happy to know how many fires were caused by prescribed fire when the one fire caused my the moron camper wannabe burns Dude's house down.

Fifty years ago and longer people used outdoor fires because they had to. It was part of life and everyone knew how to manage them. Today, that's not the case at all. Relegate them to fire rings if you have to and make folks get a permit if it's necessary. It's a small price to pay to ensure one idiot doesn't burn down the whole forest.

**rwc1969** · 02-09-2010, 01:08 AM

I know where the author is coming from. And, eventhough people are idiots in general it seems the #'s don't add up against campfires.

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 02-09-2010, 01:16 AM

No Rick, the way I understand it is that it is more that Campers are being blamed for all the forest fires,when in fact they hardly contribute to those stats at all. It's kinda' like saying that all the problems in Government is all your fault because you voted for one bad politico 20 years ago. You aren't the problem at all when you look at it realistically. All he is saying (IMO) is that campers are being blamed for something that they haven't done. Yes, you should ALWAYS practice fire safety. That is NOT what he is saying. Just that statistically campers have received the majority of the blame for something they have not done. He has done the research to back it up. Like when someone posts something that sounds wild, people ask for some corroboration. No one has questioned the claim that campers are "such bad keepers of the flame", "No fire for campers or they will burn the forest down." Here he gives stats to show that just isn't the case.

**Rick** · 02-09-2010, 01:27 AM

I don't see where he provides statistical data for that assumption. He makes a passionate plea for it but doesn't support it. I've never heard that campers are the leading cause of fires. Have you? He talks about arson within the ranks and goes directly to "we just want our campfire". Personally, I think he's let his passion write the article.

I've been in places where campfires are restricted and areas where they are banned. It's no big deal to me. I don't mind adhering to the rules. The only time I've run into it is when the weather supports that decision because it's hot and dry and hasn't rained for a while.

I just don't think it's a very well written article. I think it's too passionate. That's just my opinion. That and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee. Everybody has to complain about something and his is campfires.

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 02-09-2010, 02:37 AM

Originally Posted by Rick

I don't see where he provides statistical data for that assumption. He makes a passionate plea for it but doesn't support it. I've never heard that campers are the leading cause of fires. Have you? He talks about arson within the ranks and goes directly to "we just want our campfire". Personally, I think he's let his passion write the article.

I've been in places where campfires are restricted and areas where they are banned. It's no big deal to me. I don't mind adhering to the rules. The only time I've run into it is when the weather supports that decision because it's hot and dry and hasn't rained for a while.

I just don't think it's a very well written article. I think it's too passionate. That's just my opinion. That and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee. Everybody has to complain about something and his is campfires.

I underlined the stats.

Earlier you said something about the "stupid things" people do in campgrounds. I don't deny that. But if that is the case(we both know it is), Then why aren't more uncontrolled/wild fires caused(with statistical proof) for that being the cause?
Do you remember all the "Smoky the Bear" commercials, where a campfire was started and the animals would get Smoky, who would put out the fire, and recite his famous line - "Only you can prevent Forest Fires!" The implications are there that forest fires have been started by campfires. You know the Campfire rings with Rock instead of the metal ones we see now a days. All of them that I remember had some kind of campfire or match SOMEWHERE in the commercial.
Sure there are some common sense things about campfires. Like not during a drought. Have some kind of "spark arrestor" and such. BUT these are Common sense fire precautions. Something GOOD campers practice,whether there are rules or not.

**Rick** · 02-09-2010, 08:49 AM

I'm sorry. I didn't make myself clear. What percentage of fires are campfires being blamed for? That's what's lacking. He says campfire are being blamed for the majority of fires but has no stats to back up what percentage are blamed on campfires. He says that campfires account for 1% or less (not sure that's factual but I'll give it to him) so what is the number of fires that are being blamed on them? And who's doing all the blaming?

This whole thing doesn't mean much to me one way or the other. I'm just pointing out that there are some flaws in his article. He's tossed some numbers around but hasn't put them down in a meaningful way and he's allowed his passion to pour through, which detracts from the article, in my opinion.

The whole thing with Smokey the Bear was an effort to educate. Remember too that he was dreamed up by the ad council in the '40s so our forensic ability to determine the actual cause of wilderness fires was a tad less than it is today.

**rwc1969** · 02-09-2010, 02:00 PM

i think the point of the article was there are no #'s that prove preventing campfires significantly reduce forest fires. And that campfires are being prohibited based on an assumption that campfires are responsible for a significant amount of forest fires.

the point is you shouldn't prohibit something without first proving that the prohibition will give a positive result.

The same argument could be given for drunk driving fatalities and laws that prohibit drunk driving. What % of death comes from drunk driving related fatalities? I'm sure if you look at it that way the #'s are insignificant.

It doesn't mean that the deaths are insignificant, but when compared to all other deaths it is quite an insignificant #.

**Rick** · 02-09-2010, 02:09 PM

Then we stop enforcing the long standing laws/rules of limiting camp fires. Build them where ever you want. Care to guess what the result will be? The only reason campfire numbers ARE low is because campfire laws are enforced.

We're getting into circular logic. It's not that important to me.