Help Prevent Wildfires: Properly Extinguishing a Fire

Having fires in established or hand-built fire pits is a favorite part of the outdoors for many campers, but whether you’re enjoying a fire in your backyard fire pit or at a campsite in the woods, it’s essential to extinguish it properly. Incorrectly extinguishing a fire or leaving it unattended can lead to highly destructive and even deadly wildfires. In fact, according to the Congressional Research Service, 89% of the average number of wildfires between 2018 and 2022 were caused by humans. Bookmark this article, and teach yourself how to properly extinguish a fire to do your part in preventing wildfires here in gorgeous Colorado.

Are you looking for a local store with affordable firewood or an experienced metal fabricator? Here at the Koi Lagoon, we have a variety of firewood quantities for sale as well as a full metal shop, where our team specializes in custom metal fabrication. Call us today at 970-484-9162 to order a firewood delivery or to get started on a custom metal fire pit, or visit our shop at 2000 E. Lincoln Ave in Fort Collins, CO.

How to Properly Extinguish a Fire Pit or Campfire in 5 Steps

1. Burn Down All Remaining Fuel

Before extinguishing a campfire or a fire in a metal pit, first be sure to burn down as much of the fuel as possible. Even small pieces of smoldering wood hold a lot of heat, so burning as much of the fuel down to ash as you can will make it easier to fully extinguish the fire. While enjoying your fire, consider how long you want to remain there and how long it will take to burn down the remaining wood before adding more to ensure you have enough time to extinguish it correctly.

2. Disperse Ashes and Hot Coals

Once you have burned down as much of the fuel as possible, use a poking stick or shovel to spread the remaining hot coals and ashes across the footprint of the fire pit. By dispersing the coals, you’ll also disperse the heat and allow cooling air to more easily help pull heat away. Larger, unburned chunks may reignite during this process, so you may need to wait while it burns down again.

3. Stir in Water Until All Sizzling Stops

Using a garden hose, bucket, or other container, pour water over the dispersed coals and ashes. You’ll hear a hissing or sizzling noise coming from the fire as the water helps cool it down. Using a shovel or another tool, stir the water-logged ashes and coals to help the water reach the bottom of the coalbed.

Repeat this process of pouring and stirring until you no longer hear sizzling to ensure you’ve drowned the entire fire and not just the top layer of ashes and coals. By the time you’ve fully extinguished the fire, the pit should be filled with a wet slurry that resembles loose mud.

Using water to drown fires in metal fire pits is a great way to extinguish fires fully, but it’s important to remove the excess water and ashes from the pit once cool enough to do so safely to prevent damage to the metal.

4. Smother the Ashes With Dirt

Putting out fires in outdoor fire pits on residential properties is simple with the help of a garden hose, but what if you don’t have access to enough water to get the job done? If you need to extinguish a campfire but don’t have the water to do it, you can smother the fire with dirt, which removes the oxygen the fire needs to keep smoldering. Use the same process as you would with water, stirring in the dirt or sand to pull heat out of the coals.

Smothering a fire with sand or dirt might be enough to extinguish it, but unfortunately, this method is not guaranteed. If the heat of the fire remains long enough and has access to tree roots or other underground fuel, it may still start a forest fire. We highly recommend bringing plenty of water with you if you’ll be lighting any campfires away from a convenient water source, such as a water spigot, pond, river, or lake.

5. Inspect Nearby Area Before Leaving

The final step in properly extinguishing a campfire is looking around your yard or campsite for any hot embers or small spot fires. We also recommend keeping an eye out for any trash you may have left behind and collecting it before you leave. Remember, there are no forest janitors, and it’s up to all of us to keep our forests clean of trash.

Visit us at the Koi Lagoon in Fort Collins if you need firewood or want to check out some of our custom fire pits. Our metal fabrication experts can build you your ideal wood-burning fire pit to suit your needs and aesthetic preferences. Get in touch with us today by clicking on the button below.