How to Build a Campfire (Safely, in Australia)

A campfire is the soul of a bush camp. The cooking, the warmth, the conversation that goes on three hours longer than it should — none of it works without a proper fire. But Australia is the most flammable country on earth, and a fire built carelessly here is the difference between a great night and a national news story.

This guide is the basics: how to build a fire that lights first time, how to keep it safe, and — critically — how to know when not to light one at all.

Photo by June O on Unsplash

Before you even pick up a lighter, three checks. Every trip. Without exception.

• Total Fire Ban (TFB)? Check your state's fire authority app: NSW RFS, CFA Victoria, QFES, DFES, CFS SA, TFS, or the NT/ACT equivalents. On a TFB day, ALL solid-fuel fires are illegal — including in fireplaces — and even gas stoves can be restricted. Penalties range from $2,200+ to jail time
• Park or station rules? National parks, state forests, conservation reserves and private stations all have their own fire rules. Some only allow fires in supplied fireplaces. Some have blanket seasonal bans. Some prohibit fires above the tree line. Read the signs, check the parks website
• Conditions today? Even if it's legal, hot windy days are a no. Use common sense — if it feels like fire weather, it is fire weather

If any of those is a no, leave the fire and use your gas stove. A great trip with no fire is better than a court date.

If a fireplace is supplied, use it — that's not negotiable. If not, and fires are permitted, build a proper fire pit:

• Dig down 200–300mm into bare earth
• Pit no bigger than 1m square — that's the legal max in most jurisdictions
• Clear all twigs, leaf litter and grass within at least 6 metres
• No overhanging branches above — embers travel further than you'd think
• Don't ring the pit with river rocks. They trap moisture and can explode into shrapnel when heated

Tents, gear, gas bottles, vehicles — all of these go upwind of the fire and at least 5m back. A spark on a synthetic tent burns through in seconds.

Photo: Daniel Sturgess / Unsplash

Forget the log-cabin builds you see on YouTube. The tee-pee is faster, more reliable, and uses less wood.

Layer 1 — tinder (the stuff that catches a spark):

• Dry gum leaves (the king of Aussie tinder)
• Bracken, paperbark, fine grass
• Cotton wool soaked in petroleum jelly (carry in a small tin)
• Commercial firelighter blocks if conditions are damp

Layer 2 — kindling (pencil-thin to thumb-thick dry sticks):

Build a vertical cone over the tinder, like the frame of a Native American tee-pee. Lots of small sticks, leaving plenty of air gaps. Air is half the fire — you can never have too much airflow at the bottom.

Layer 3 — light it from upwind:

Use long matches or a stormproof lighter. Light the tinder at 2-3 spots on the upwind side. As the kindling catches, gradually add larger sticks and small split logs. Same vertical pattern — air gaps everywhere.

Don't:

• Pour petrol on it. It's dangerous and useless — it explodes off then dies, leaving wet wood
• Use newspaper as your primary tinder — it burns fast and dies before kindling catches
• Pile too much wood on too quickly — you'll smother it

The single most important rule of bush firewood: only collect wind-fallen, dry timber on the ground. Never cut down standing trees, alive or dead. Standing dead trees are critical wildlife habitat and most jurisdictions have heavy fines (often $1000+) for cutting them.

• Look 50–100m from camp — closer than that is usually picked clean
• Dry wood snaps with a clean crack; wet wood bends
• Hardwood (gum, ironbark) burns hot and long; softer wood lights faster
• Avoid green leaves and bark — they smoke heavily and irritate eyes

For bigger pieces, a folding saw is faster, safer and lighter than carrying an axe. A small bow saw will deal with most fallen branches up to wrist-thick. Keep saws and axes well away from kids — adult job, every time.

If you're car camping somewhere wood is scarce or banned, bring a couple of bags from home (or buy locally). Don't transport firewood interstate — it can spread bark beetles and forest pathogens, and there are quarantine rules in some states.

Photo: Carlos Felipe Ramírez Mesa / Unsplash

The vast majority of campfire incidents are entirely preventable. The basics:

• Never leave it unattended. Not for a 15-minute walk, not to grab beers from the car. Embers travel and tents catch fast
• Keep water on hand. A 10L bucket or jerry can within arm's reach. Fire blanket and small extinguisher if you've got them
• Discourage kids playing near it. Sounds obvious — every year someone trips into a fire pit
• Gas bottles upwind, well back. Heat-flared LPG is a serious hazard
• Know what's overhead. Especially in eucalypt country — sparks can ignite leaves above and you'll never see it coming

This is where most campfire cooking goes wrong: people try to cook over the flames. Flames are for warmth, not heat. Real cooking happens over a bed of red coals.

• Build the fire 1-2 hours before you want to cook
• Once you've got a deep bed of red coals, rake some to one side for cooking
• Camp ovens sit directly on coals, with extra coals shovelled onto the lid for top heat
• Grills go on a tripod or rocks at the right height — you should be able to hold your hand 100mm above for 4-5 seconds before pulling away

Damper, lamb shanks, whole roast chicken, vegetables wrapped in foil — the camp oven is the most underrated piece of cooking gear in Australia. Worth its weight every time.

"Drowning" a fire is the only acceptable extinguishing method. Burying it isn't enough — buried coals can smoulder for 24+ hours and reignite when wind exposes them.

• Pour plenty of water — more than you think you need
• Stir the coals as you go so water reaches every ember
• Listen for hissing — keep going until there's no sound at all
• Touch the ash with the back of your hand — if it's warm, more water
• When you're sure it's out, refill the pit with the soil you dug out

Get into the habit of putting the fire out before you go to sleep, not when you wake up. Conditions change overnight — wind picks up, you sleep through it, and a fire you "left smouldering for the morning" turns into a real problem.

Building a campfire isn't complicated, but it's a skill that rewards practice. Get good at the tee-pee build at home (a backyard chiminea or fire pit is great practice), learn the local fire-ban app for your state, carry a couple of small luxuries like cotton-wool firelighters and a folding saw, and you'll be the person at every camp who can get the fire going first try.

And the most important rule of all: a great campfire is the one you put out properly. Cold ashes by morning, every time.