Decided to make what I call a "Teepee" or a "Collapsing Fire" yesterday morning. Not sure if that is actual verbiage within the fire building community or if I am infringing upon trademarked terms. Not sure if that's even a real community. If so, and you take issue with that, I don't know what to tell you... Get in line behind all the other freakshows and file suit.
This was the first time I made an open fire outside this early in the morning since I was a cub scout about 25 years ago. I don't think fire has changed much since then, but I'd have to check with my local scientist and get back to y'all. In the spirit of the sun coming up, and since it was so damn early I didn't have anything else to do yet, I decided to make a DIY for my fellow Steemians.
As the wood teepee heats up, the burned logs slowly collapse upon themselves into the center, they break apart and turn to ash. Essentially, the fire contains and smothers itself. Therefore under ideal conditions, you do not have to extinguish this fire manually, it will burn itself out in a couple hours, depending on how big you decide to build it.
I will add this in order to create the illusion that I am a responsible individual:
I AM NOT A FIRE SAFETY SPECIALIST, NOR AM I ACTING IN THE CAPACITY OF AN EXPERT IN FIRE SAFETY OR PREVENTION. PLEASE DO NOT RELY UPON MY DIY ON FIRE BUILDING AS A CERTIFIED METHOD OF BUILDING A SAFE FIRE, I.E. ONE THAT WILL NOT BURN YOU, YOUR PROPERTY AND/OR YOUR LOVED ONES FACES OFF. I ALWAYS BUILD FIRES IN A CONTAINED AREA, IN THIS CASE INSIDE A FIRE PIT MADE AND LINED WITH STONE. I AM DESCRIBING MY OWN PERSONAL METHODS BELOW. TAKING THAT INTO CONSIDERATION, MOST RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS MIGHT SAY: "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PSYCHOPATH WRITING THIS DIY. HE IS MENTALLY ILL." USE DESCRIBED METHODS BELOW AT YOUR OWN RISK AND PLEASE DO NOT BITCH AND MOAN OR BLAME ME IF YOU BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN.
That sounds legally binding to me, don't you think? Let's begin.
Materials
- Fire Pit
- Matches/Lighter
- Leaves/Pine Needles
- Twigs
- Branches
- Logs
- Paper and/or cardboard.
Please do the environment a favor: don't be a douchebag and use paper such as magazines, local grocer's coupon clippers, anything that has an overabundance of ink printed on it should probably be avoided. Newspaper seems to burn okay, but try to gather some unused printer paper, plain cardboard, plain brown lunch bags. Just use some common sense, not paper products that will be potentially burning chemicals into the atmosphere. Humans do enough damage to this planet, we don't need Mother Earth huffing toxic fumes on top of the much worse pollutants already being pumped out on a daily basis.
The Foundation
The Ceilings
The Roof
The Fire Insurance
The Burn
Pretty self-explanatory through the photos. When you get to this stage here you can add some additional paper to the side logs and sprinkle some pine needles and leaves to feed and spread the fire.
The Reinforcements
Here's where you start stacking logs around the fire and continue to feed from the inside if necessary with leaves and pine needles. Then start throwing in twigs.
Now We Cooking
Enjoy your pig roast or whatever you choose to do with your glorious fire.