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[Oisín]

Hey, was planning on a night out on the lough shore at the weekend. But after all these fires in the news I'm afraid of a forest fire.

So do you experts have any advice on a safe little flame? Nothing massive, just small. Maybe with some solid feul tablets.

Thanks in advance

[LennyJ1]

Hey, was planning on a night out on the lough shore at the weekend. But after all these fires in the news I'm afraid of a forest fire.

So do you experts have any advice on a safe little flame? Nothing massive, just small. Maybe with some solid feul tablets.

Thanks in advance

Use a hobo stove or take a small plastic shovel and dig a fire pit. Just keep a eye on it and dont fall asleep with it still lit.

[Oisín]

Okay, might try combine the two ideas, dig a wee pit and place a stove in it.

You have to keep the countryside the way you found it!

[VMCC]

You can make a 'leave no trace' fire, I saw one made last weekend. The fire is set on top of a doubled over fireblanket

[RedLeader]

Hobo stove and some care and sense. Nothing has changed, as long as people are sensible fires are perfectly safe.

[KittyKatArmstrong]

Leave no trace fire


Folded up fire blanket and a layer of stone

[Oisín]

That leave no trace fire is pretty cool. Think I may invest in a fire blanket of that sort.

[DryBag]

There's a lot of strong feeling about fires at the minute, and even though you're no more likely to let it get out of control than at any other time (ignoring Murphy's law) I'd be tempted to leave the fire for a day or two.

[Oisín]

Understand where your coming from, but at the same time its not the same without. Being beside the Lough would comfort me a bit more, knowing if you even had a cup there ould be a lot of water that can be easily connected.

Just need to be cautious.

[suspectmonkey]

Does anyone know what the actual law is regarding lighting fires in public areas?  I heard some funny laws mentioned on the news last night I'd never even heard of!

Of course there is an obvious difference between lighting a small fire in a hobo stove in a forest compared to setting a bin on fire on a town main street.  I'd be interested to know if there is any law regarding it, and whether or not it differentiates between the two scenarios.  Oh, and if you are using a hobo stove, when does the fire within it cease to be a stove and become a fire? 

Whilst on the subject, I think hot countries like Austrailia and America actually ban the use of wood burning and alcohol stoves during certain arid times of the year.  I think there have been some horror stories in the past were people have accidently knocked over a lit alcohol stove in the past and ended up with massive bush fires as a result!

Not trying to scaremonger, just really interested if anyone knows in light of recent events

[Greyfox]

I having been lighting and teaching people how to light fires for sometime now and without exception the number 1 rule is to respect the fire itself. Any fire can get out of control wether its a camp fire or a wrongly used camping stove. You will nee permission from the owner of the land before you go setting fires but once you have there are a few simple rules. Check the ground is it soil or plant matter you are building on? This is especially important when lighting a fire in a forest. Roots, stay clear of them, again in a forest conifers especially dead ones hold a lot of resin in their roots, all it take is for the roots to get past 800 degrees and it will ignite, this wont be noticable but can smoulder underground for quite a while until it gets a feed of oxygen and off it will go. Wind depending on which way its blowing can depend where you fire blows. Fuel, different woods burn differently if you use a resinous wood it can spit and spark continually and all it takes is a big enough spark and the right wind direction for it to head off on its own and cause a fire. Folks i could go on all day but the only real way to learn how to light and control a fire is to go out with someone who knows what they are dong and learn from them. If you believe lighting and controlling a fire is easy then you are on the road to causing problems as you havent given it the correct amount of respect.If anyone wants to learn a bit more about fire lighting and techniques for fire lighting i can certainly organise a course at Carnfunnock free of course for anyone who wants to come along.

GF

[whoRya]

Since this has been bumped up again, it seems like the ideal place to mention our experience when we were up the Mournes on Saturday.  

We parked at the Cecil Newman car park at the bottom of the Trassey Track and were walking along the first path past Clonachullion (sp?) Wood and noticed that there was a fire going only about 10 metres into the forest.  It was about the size of a small fire that 2 or 3 people could sit around.  Much of this wood was was burnt in the Easter weekend.   One of our party tried to put it out as best as possible, when we left the flames were extinguished but it was still very smoky.

Do you think it had been burning since Easter, either overground or underground?  I'd have been inclined to think it wouldn't be underground in a forest, having only heard that mentioned about peat bogs before.  But as GF has mentioned above that may have been the case.  Perhaps it had been smoking all this time overground and the increased wind sparked it up again?  If we hadn't had the adverse weather we have had recently, these things may have been re-igniting all over the place.

[Oisín]

If anyone wants to learn a bit more about fire lighting and techniques for fire lighting i can certainly organise a course at Carnfunnock free of course for anyone who wants to come along.

This sounds great. I would be pleased to come along and learn from you! Count me in.

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