How to Build a Campfire Clean, Hot, and Safe
Nothing completes a basecamp like a well-built fire burning clean, hot, and steady just outside the canvas tent flap. Every serious hunter, outfitter, and backcountry camper understands that knowing how to build a campfire is a critical skill. It boils water for coffee at first light, dries out gear and socks after a long haul, keeps predators honest in the dark, and warms tired bones when the wind cuts through camp.
From campfire structures to site placement and fuel selection, here’s a guide on building a campfire. Because while anyone can strike a match, creating a clean-burning, heat-efficient, and low-impact campfire is a skill that deserves mastering.
The Basic Steps to Building a Campfire
Building a campfire requires fuel, air, and heat. However, first, ensure that campfires are permitted. Before you even gather tinder or kindling, verify with rangers and check local regulations to see if you can build a fire (especially when you’re in the backcountry).
Choose the Right Site and Location for Your Campfire
Take advantage of your campfire as both a light and heat source. When setting up a basecamp for multiple days, you must position the fire in the right location.
Use existing fire rings or build on durable terrain. If there is none, bring your own or make it on gravel, rock, sand, or soil, avoiding root systems or grassy areas.
Be mindful of prevailing winds. The location should allow the wind to carry smoke up and away from campers and congregating areas (like camp kitchens). Also, the campfire should be close enough to feel warmth but not so close that the wind casts embers into tents or sitting areas. Ideally, position your campfire a good 10-15 feet away and upwind.
Look overhead. Ensure there are no branches overhead or anything that can catch fire from embers.
Gather Your Kindling and Wood
Once you choose a location, gather kindling, tinder, and wood. For longer excursions, it would be wise to bring your own to ensure you have plenty for multiple days, especially when your fire provides a means of warmth and cooking.
Gather or make your firestarter. Use the daylight to scan the site for tinder, such as twigs, wood shavings, pine needles, or dry bark, to act as your firestarter. You can also make your own firestarter at home – there are several DIY firestarter ideas out there, like wax-dipped cotton balls.
Pick the right kindling. Pencil-thin twigs and shaved splits that are dry work best. Thumb-thick branches and forearm-size logs also help balance out between kindling and large logs.
Use downed or seasoned firewood. Wood will burn clean and efficiently when it's good and dry, so avoid choosing green wood (it will barely burn anyway), and never cut down live or standing trees. Instead, seek out fallen logs and branches, sawing them down to manageable sections if you need.
Build Your Campfire and Light the Tinder
Think of building a campfire in layers: The tinder bundle at the center, loosely stacked kindling for airflow, then the larger sustaining logs. Here are more detailed steps:
Bundle tinder. Then, place the tinder in the center of the fire ring and arrange kindling loosely around it.
Add larger firewood and logs (choose your campfire structure wisely – see below!).
Light the tinder in the center and from multiple angles, providing it with airflow and oxygen (a telescoping fire blower is a safe and handy tool). Shield it from wind, too. Use a long-stem match, fire steel, or striker, ditching butane torches and such.
Grow the fire. Use an updraft airflow to help it spread gradually to kindling and logs. Once your fire feels strong, add more logs to keep it going, but let it breathe – don’t overload and smother!
Types of Campfire Structures (and Why the Choice Matters)
You already know that fire needs three things: fuel, air, and heat. But different types of campfire structures are useful for different setups. While there are many types of campfire structures, these are the four most common and useful for basecamps.
Teepee Campfires
Easy to build and maintain, the teepee campfire ignites quickly (even in damp conditions) and heats up rapidly. A teepee campfire is excellent for minimalist camps, offering a strong flame that is easy to control, perfect for warming hands and boiling water. However, because it burns hot and fast, it also consumes wood quickly and needs tending – so it’s a trade-off.
How to Build a Teepee Campfire: With the tinder at the center, stack kindling and sticks into a conical shape around it, allowing airflow from below.
Log Cabin Campfires
If you need a longer, controlled heat with a stable bed of hot coals, the log cabin campfire is the way to go. This type of campfire structure is ideal for grilling, pan cooking, and Dutch oven use, thanks to the stable burn. The self-feeding stack design provides structural airflow as it burns inward. However, a log cabin campfire takes longer to build and prepare.
How to Build a Log Cabin Campfire: Layer the tinder and kindling in the center base, creating a mini-log-cabin-like square stack of split logs (where the prep work comes in).
Upside-Down (Top-Down) Campfires
The upside-down (also called top-down) campfire is a low-maintenance option (poking and rearranging might even diminish it), especially for hunters focused on processing game or outfitters prepping gear. And while it’s never recommended to “set it and forget it,” a top-down campfire maintains its structure as it burns and can be used for overnight heat, especially combined with fire reflectors and larger outfitter camp parties. The downside? It’s slow to catch, requiring patience and dry wood, so not for a cold, hungry crowd.
How to Build an Upside-down Campfire: Place large logs below, medium-sized logs stacked above, then topped with kindling and tinder. Hence, the name.
Lean-To Campfires
Lean-to campfire structures are quick to light and excellent for harsher conditions like windy weather or when you’re stuck with wet wood. They also work well for minimalist or stealth camping, such as for solo hunters and outfitters, keeping the fire low-profile, efficient, and compact. You can also convert it into a cooking fire, letting the windbreak brace log burn through and flattening the coals. However, lean-to campfires are not good for long burns or overnight heating.
How to Build a Lean-To Campfire: Use a larger log or stick as a windbreak or brace. Then, lean and angle kindling and smaller sticks against it to form a slanted shelter. Add tinder beneath the lean.
Extinguish the Campfire Correctly
Remember to practice campfire etiquette and extinguish it correctly. Spread the coals using a shovel or stick, flattening and dousing them with water. Listen for a hiss, then pour water over again, eventually feeling for a cold temp with the back of your hand.
Of course, when in sensitive terrain or on public lands, consider using packable fire pans or your wall tent stove for all burns.
Final Thoughts on Campfires
Outside a Beckel Canvas tent, a fire does more than warm your fingers.
It’s a signal to the crew that the day’s done. A place to dry socks, boil coffee, and talk through tomorrow’s mission. So learn how to build a campfire right, tend it smart, and leave no trace.
Need a tent that can handle the elements while you focus on the fire? Explore our American-made canvas wall tents, stove-ready and built for real backcountry life.