How to Build a Campfire Step by Step
What to Bring
Lighter / Matches
Fire Poker / Fire Pit Tongs
Tinder
Kindling
Firewood
Water jug
Note: Many campgrounds have firewood for camping available for purchase.
How to Build a Campfire
There are a few ways to build a campfire. Let’s try the log cabin style campfire. It’s easy to assemble and less likely to tip over while building it.
Campfire Safety Tips
As part of campfire safety, confirm ahead of time that there are no fire bans in place, have a bucket of water nearby, and use the designated campfire pit.
ASSEMBLE THE FLOOR
Place two pieces of firewood parallel to each other about a foot apart. Alternatively, you can add a third log to give it a studier base and help burn longer.
PLACE TWo LOG PARALLEL
Add two more logs perpendicular to the logs that are already in the campfire, and repeat if you want an additional layer.
ADD TINDER
Add tinder to the inside of the cabin shape. Tinder can be dry paper, cardboard, or twigs found on the ground. Hold off pulling branches from living trees will harm the tree and will actually make your campfire harder to start because live wood contains a lot of moisture.
ADD KINDLING
Kindling are skinnier pieces of wood that can be purchased with the firewood or you can manually peel pieces of wood off the firewood. Kindling is important because it transfers heat from the tinder to the bigger logs more effectively.
LIGHT THE TINDER
Light from the bottom, and add more light in between the layers. One thing I like about the log cabin is it allows air to flow easily and the air flow is essential to get a campfire going.