AY Honors/Camping/Fire/Fire ring

There are many ways to prepare an area where you will build your campfire. If you are in an established camping area, look for a place where a fire has already been built. Do not start a fire in a new area if there are fire pits already available. If you must build a fire in a new area, dig out any sod first, and lay it aside. Keep it in the shade (perhaps beneath a vehicle) and water it every day so it does not dry out (perhaps with your rinse water). You will replace it before you leave. If there is no sod, clear out all the duff and debris so that only inorganic material is in the fire ring. Clear an area double the diameter of the intended fire. Then place stones inside this ring, building a small wall as it were. Try to fit the stones so that there are no gaps, or only small gaps. The stone ring should be six to eight inches high, and it should go all the way around the circle. Before you lay the fire, make sure you have a means to extinguish it nearby and ready to go. This could be a fire extinguisher, a bucket of sand, or a bucket of water. Means of extinguishing the fire should be on hand before the fire is lit. The fire ring should then be ready for a fire.