A Pennsic PyroPrimer

By "Smokey" Baron Dur

Vigilant:

Night watch of Roman cities whose task was tomonitor for the danger of fire.

Introduction

This booklet is only intended to be a guide in thesafe and effective use of fire. It is not an official publication of the SCAInc. or any of its branches or organizations. It does not delineate orsupersede the official rules for any event or function, but if you don’t followthe "rules of thumb" contained herein, you may not live to regret it.

The author wishes to thank those who inspired thiswork (including those who survived) Arnoff, Gwen, the Barony of Carrillon, andMargrita as well as Express-Tech Volume Printers for their contribution inpublishing this guide. Cartoons by William Blackfox (verbally released topublic domain). All or part of this document may be reproduced for educationaluse.

Let’s keep campfire as one word, please.Smokey Baron

Safety First

Setup isimportant

Look at how you set up your camp. Is the fire pitin a main traffic area? Will you torches fall onto your tents if they areknocked down? Will sparks from the fire pit reach the tents?

Since camps change on a daily basis, you shouldcheck your layout every time it changes, and at least once a day. (Planningwill be a big help here.)

Some things to check:

Cookfires - at least 10 ft of clear space

Bonfires- at least 30 ft of clear space

Torches- at least (3 ft plus height of torch) clear space

Tents- at least 3 ft between them (wall to wall)

Teach yourchildren well

Safety is an excellent thing for you and youchildren to learn together. Take the opportunity.

Extinguishers

Fires come in three categories: A - CombustibleSolids, B - Flammable Liquids, C-Electrical Sources. Extinguishers are markedwith ratings (A, B and C) and a value that indicates their effectivenessagainst each of these types of fires.

Since most of the materials that you will encounterwhile camping are of the A category, water is the best thing to have around.Dry chemical and compressed gas (CO2 or Halon) are best-used for fighting fireswith liquid fuels (or electrical fires. But, who has an electrical fire whilecamping? Don’t laugh too hard, it happened at Pennsic). However, they are nexttoo worthless for fighting class A fires.

If you have to use an extinguisher, remember tofight the fire from the bottom up. Forinstance, if you put water on the base of a fire, it turns to steam. Steam iscooler than fire, and will take away the heat as it rises into the fire aboveit. Since steam is water vapor, it displaces the oxygen that the fire needs tokeep burning. If you throw the water on the top of the fire, the fire belowjust dries out what’s on top so that it will continue to burn.

You burn too

Clothing is flammable, and modern textile blendsburn hotter and longer (polyester is the reason). Use a heavy apron,close-fitting sleeves, and gloves when working near fire. There is nosubstitute for staying alert.

Emergencies

The rules are simple:

1. Callfor help!

2. Don’tpanic!

3. CALLFOR HELP!!!

4. Ifyou can, combat the casualty. Otherwise, wait for help.

Fuels

Solid

Wood - This is available in three forms: Green, Dry, and Lumber. Green wood(unseasoned) is very difficult to use as much of the energy in the fire must goto drying it out. Dry or seasoned wood is easy to identify by the radial cracksthat form at the end of the logs. Even if the outside of the log is wet (fromrain), the interior will burn well. The best wood to use is hardwoods such asoak, ash, hickory. Fruit woods will burn well, but stay away from sappy woodssuch as pine. When wood burns, part of the energy must go into converting thewood to charcoal. This means that smoke will be produced which contains variousincomplete combustion products. Lumber is generally bad to use for firewood asit can be too dry (and therefore burns too fast), or it can contain chemicalsthat release harmful fumes when burned (like cyanide gas).

Charcoal - This material is basically carbon. When wood is heated to hightemperatures in the absence of oxygen, all the volatiles are driven off.Charcoal is nearly smokeless, but it still produces incomplete combustionproducts like carbon monoxide. Like it says right on the bag, don’t use thisfor interior heating (like inside your tent). When you bank your fires, youwill produce charcoal.

Wax- This material is the solid form of liquid fuels. It has a very lowvolatility, but when heated to only a few hundred degrees it will burn rapidly.Wax is useful in starting wood fires (just drip some melted wax on a piece ofkindling and it will light very quickly).

Liquid

Liquid fuels come in two general categories, lowand high volatile. This relates to the ability to "flash" at roomtemperature (if you heat a low volatile fuel, it will increase it’s ability to"flash"). Technically, volatility is the rate (at a giventemperature) that a substance will produce "free radicals" that arecombustible. In the right mixture with oxygen, the free radicals will burnexplosively or "flash", or they will burn in a sustained fashion.

Grease (Fat) and Vegetable Oil - These are low volatile fuels that you create or usein cooking. Since you will be heating these up, they can flash-fire in the pan.

Lamp Oil - This is a low volatile fuel, highly refined for use with oil lamps.Can be used as torch fuel.

Fuel (Diesel) Oil - This is a low volatile fuel that can be used astorch fuel. It is not recommended for use in oil lamps (the oil is not very refined and burns very dirty.)

Kerosene - This is a high volatile fuel that should only be used in lampsspecifically made for kerosene. It is not recommended for torch fuel.

Charcoal Lighter Fluid - This is a high volatile fuel that should only beused to light charcoal. Read and follow the directions on the can. Don’tspray this on a fire that is already lit!

Gasoline (Camp Stove Fuel) - This is a high volatile fuel that should only beused in camp stoves (follow the manufacturers specifications). Some stoves are"multi-fuel", while others can only use the manufacturers refinedfuel. This is definitely not recommended for torches!

Gas

Propane - This form of fuel has twospecific dangers to be wary of. Loose fittings can leak gas. The leaked gas is heavierthan air and will pool in dangerous concentrations (EXPLOSIVE!). Disconnectcanisters or close the primary valve on the tank (if you are using the largertanks) when not in use.

Storage

Firewood has no special storage requirements (butit will work better if you keep it dry). Store candles in a cool place, andwrap them with wax paper or parchment. Do not store liquid fuels in any tent orstructure where fumes can accumulate. Do not leave liquid fuel containerssitting in the direct sun as this will cause them to "boil off"flammable or explosive fumes (cover your containers with a tarp and cap themsecurely).

Fire Starting

Setup

Laying the fire - You want the fire to startquickly and with a minimum of fuel. Two classic lays are the "teepee"and the "log cabin." The teepee is good for getting a small firegoing quickly without much charcoal produced. The log cabin will produce a fairamount of charcoal as the fire falls in on itself. You will probably need ateepee inside of the log cabin to get it going.

Since fire goes up faster than down, put thesmaller, more easily burned material closer to the center of your lay withprogressively larger material on the outside. The smallest material (tinder,paper, wood shavings, etc.) should be piled in the center. Remember to leaveaccess to the center of the lay so you can light it.

Ignition

You can improve your matches by dipping them inmelted wax (long enough for the wax to soak into the wood, not just coat thematch head). Hard to start fires (such as wet wood or charcoal) can be helpedalong with candle wax, wax paper, waxed milk cartons, etc. Don’t over-apply"starter fluid" to charcoal as all it does is waste the fuel. DON’Tput liquid fuel of any type on any fire that is already hot or burning as itcan flash right back to the container (that’s a bomb you’re holding there,son).

Cooking

Campfire cooking is something of a science, muchlike cooking on the stove at home. (This is the lesson for the 14th generationapartment dwellers)

If you keep the following tips in mind, you shouldbe able to cope with the new experience:

Thefire is irregular in heat output; you can work around this and still be able tocook effectively.

Startwith simple meals (like soup or kebabs) until you get the hang of it.

Bepatient, it will boil.

Stirregularly.

Takefood out of the cans to cook it as many cans have a plastic lining.

Ifyou burn the soup, chop up a potato and throw it in to absorb the burnt-foodtaste.

Soapingthe outside of your pots will make it easier to get them clean, but if you cookover coals this won’t be necessary.

Weara heavy apron (it makes a good pot-holder.)

Heatyour dishwater whil you cook, it will cut down on clean-up time.

Don’t heat unopened cans! They can explode andspray their boiling-hot contents on you!

Pits

Trench- The simplest fire pit is the trench (see the diagram). Note thatthe wind should enter the trench in the shallow end (the West end for Pennsic).Build the fire in the deep end and rake the coals up to the cooking area.

Keyhole - This is a modification of the Trench pit that can take advantage ofa fire pit ring. The main fire is built in the fire pit, and coals for cookingare raked into the trench. Again, note that the wind enters the trench end.

Fill it in - Keep the material you remove from the fire pit close to it (you canuse it to smother the fire). When you decamp, please fill the pit back in(leave the grounds as you found them, or better).

Tips and Tools

When cooking with campfires, remember that you haveradiated heat to work with instead of conducted heat like home. It is notnecessary to put the pot in thefire to get it hot (you can place it next to the fire and get almost the sameresults. Also remember that it will take a little longer to cook (campfires arenot as efficient as your stove at home), so be patient.

Fire Rake - this is an essential tool for campfire cookery.While a stick will work to move coals around, you are forever having to replacethe stick. The simplest form of a fire rake is just a long piece of steel withthe end bent 90°.

Grills -Raid a junkyard for the racks out of old ovens to set your pots on. You can get"beach grills" that will cost a fair amount, but can be used fordirect grilling of food.

Pots and Pans- If you are cooking with a campfire, cast iron cookware will even our theheat. The usual kitchen stuff will work well with camp stoves, but can be triedwith charcoal (this will work, but not well).

Ovens - TheDutch have a great solution to this problem. If you use a large pot (one ofthose canning kettles will work) and place it so that it absorbs the radiatedheat of the fire it will work very well as a quick oven. You can also heapcoals and ashes on top of the pot (just like the Dutch oven) for added heat.(Use a cooling rack inside the pot to keep your cookies from sticking to thebottom.) Another method is to wrap the item to be baked and bury it in theashes, and then rake coals on top of it.

Lighting

Use daylight for detail work, and save the nightfor romance...

Lamps

Trimming your wicks will improve the performance ofyour lamps. Remember to clean the chimneys as well. If the lamp is smoking, thewick is up to far. Use reflectors and light concentrators to get more light onthe subject.

Trim wicks with small (embroidary) scissors. Trimround wicks flat on top (like a crew-cut.)

A clear bottle full of water can act as a lens toconcentrate light.

Torches

The small, screw-top canister torches are thesafest. The two piece bowl torches are like Malatov Cocktails (on a stick) andshould not be used. When possible, group torches in clusters to reduce thechances of knock-down. Trim the wicks and try to wind-proof the torches (if youuse a reflector, this can do double-duty). NO TIKI TORCH IS MADE TO BEHAND-CARRIED! PERIOD!

It is generally unsafe to use any flame-poweredillumination or heat source inside a tent; there is just too much at stake. Ifyou take the risk, you force others to shar the consequences. They may not wantto.

Candles

These work best in lanterns or with chimneys. Atthe very least, put a catch pan beneath candle holders. These things drip allover stuff, and the drippings can increase the flammability of whatever theysoak into. Bucket candles should be used with a stand (for hanging them) orplaced on a bare spot on the ground (scraped to bare earth). The bucket can gethot enough to ignite adjacent material. Lawn candles are to be planted in theground (clear the area around them), and are not for carrying around!

Campfires

If you want to brighten things up with yourcampfire, try adding kindling (small bits of wood). This will burn quickly andbrightly. You can also toss in your candle stubs or blocks of paraffin wax. DON’TPUT FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS ON FIRES!

Some GeneralReminders:

Neverleave any fire unattended.

Boozeand Fire are a bad mix.

Dropand Roll!

Onlyyou can prevent Camp Fires.

Don’tbe a Pennsic Celebrity.

Properlydispose spent fuel containers.

Don’tpollute.

Aclean camp is a safe and happy camp.

Scrapedishes and pans before washing. Strain dishwater thru grass or cloth to removefood particles before dumping water in sump.

Markholes to prevent falls.

Markropes to prevent tripping.

TheLaw of Six P’s: Proper Planning PreventsPretty Poor Performance.

Murphywas an optimist.

Stupidrules are for stupid people. Don’t be the reason for the next stupid rule.

Squire!Sheath thy sword!

Thisis Pennsylvania; the laws are different here.

Ifyou want the comforts of home, try a motel.

Ifyou must get drunk, do it at your own camp.

Manylearn by example. Be a good one.

Above all, have a good war with only memoriesand no scars.