Activity: Building Fires Safely

Help children learn safe methods for building, maintaining, and extinguishing a fire to learn key survival skills.

Help children build, maintain, and extinguish a fire to learn key survival skills.

Explain how to choose and create a safe place to build and contain a fire. Discuss additional options like fire rings, pits, or wood-burning ovens where available. Fill buckets with water to keep nearby.

Discuss fire safety:

• Children do not play with or near the fire.
• Someone must watch and tend the fire at all times. Never leave a fire burning unattended.
• Do not put anything but wood into the fire.

Provide materials or have the children gather and sort tinder (such as dry leaves), kindling (such as twigs), and fuel wood (such as branches or logs). Explain that the materials must be dry in order to burn well. Help the children assemble the materials into different styles of campfires. Here are two examples:

• To make a tepee fire, place tinder in the middle and assemble a small tepee or pyramid over the top of it with the kindling. Build a bigger tepee or pyramid over the top with fuel wood. Light the tinder in the middle with a match or lighter. This is an easy fire for beginners to build and is primarily used for heat.
• To make a log cabin fire, put the tinder material in the middle and assemble a small tepee or pyramid over the top of it with the kindling. Then place larger pieces of fuel wood opposite each other on either side of the tepee. Lay smaller pieces of fuel wood perpendicular across the first set and on the other sides of the tepee, forming a square shape around it. Keep repeating and layering the wood so it begins to look like a rough, small cabin. Light the tinder in the middle with a match or lighter. This fire produces heat and coals for cooking.

Teach the children to extinguish the fire by pouring water over it, then stirring it to check for hot embers underneath. Pour more water on the hot embers and stir it again as needed until the embers are all extinguished.

Discuss the activity with parents beforehand to see if there are any specific needs to be aware of regarding how their children might respond around fire. Take necessary precautions to keep everyone safe.

Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.

• Cook something over or in the fire while practicing your fire safety skills. Please adjust for any food allergies.
• Invite a firefighter or other expert to teach you fire safety skills. For example, your group could discuss how to prevent wildfires, what to do if you catch on fire (be considerate of children who might be frightened by this idea), and how to extinguish different types of fires.
• Learn how to start a fire without matches or lighters. Consider using flint and steel, two sticks, or a magnifying glass.
• Service idea: Create emergency kits with fire-starting supplies for families or shelters who need them. Also, serve others by leaving the campground area cleaner than you found it.

Encourage children to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:

• How can you use these skills in the future to help your family or others?
• Fire safety rules protect us. How do the commandments of God protect us?

• Preparing for Emergencies
• Learning First Aid Basics
• Thanking Community Helpers