Keeping a Fire Going and Cooking on It

Feed a fire, cook on coals, save embers and put it out properly

6 minBeginnerUpdated 2026-10-23 Keeping a Fire Going and Cooking on It

You will learn

Feed a fire in stages and judge how much wood you need
Cook on coals rather than flames
Put a fire out completely and safely

⚠️ Check local fire rules first. In Portugal and much of southern Europe open fires are banned in the critical period, usually 1 July to 30 September and extended on high-risk days, and fines are heavy.

⚠️ Never bring a fire, stove or smouldering coals inside a tent or closed shelter. Carbon monoxide has no smell and kills in your sleep.

⚠️ Drown, stir and feel: never leave a fire until it is cold to the touch.

⚠️ Never use petrol, lighter fluid or alcohol to start or boost a fire. Vapour can flash back and burn you.

Feed in stages

A young fire grows in steps. Once tinder and kindling are burning well, add slightly thicker sticks a few at a time, then thumb-thick, then wrist-thick wood. Each size should catch before you add the next. Adding too much at once, or wood that is too big, smothers the flame by blocking air. Keep pieces loosely crossed so air can flow between them. If the fire starts to struggle, stop adding wood and gently blow at the base or open up a gap. A steady small fire is far easier to manage, and safer, than a big roaring one.

Coals cook, flames burn

Tall flames blacken food on the outside while leaving it raw inside, and they coat pots in soot. For cooking, let the fire burn down for twenty to forty minutes to a bed of glowing coals. Coals give an even, steady heat you can control by raking them closer or further away. Push some coals to one side to make a hot zone and a cooler zone. Use a stable pot on flat rocks or a grill, and keep long-handled tools and gloves handy. Never leave cooking unattended, and keep children and pets well back.

💡 Hold your hand above the coals: if you can manage only two seconds, it is hot enough to sear.

How much wood a night takes

People always underestimate fuel. Keeping a small fire going through an evening takes a surprising amount of wood, often an armful an hour, and a whole night needs a pile far bigger than you think. Gather it all in daylight and stack it by size, upwind of the fire and outside the 3 metre clear zone. Only use dead, fallen wood, never cut living trees, and in many places gathering wood is restricted, so check. Dry hardwood burns longer and gives better coals than softwood, which flares up and burns quickly.

Banking and saving coals

To keep a fire for later, you can bank it: rake the coals into a tight pile and cover them with a layer of ash, then lay a thick dry log alongside. The ash slows the burn, and in the morning you can scrape it back, add tinder and blow the coals back to life. Never leave a banked fire unattended for long, and never in dry or windy conditions or where fire rules forbid it. In most real situations it is safer and easier to put the fire out fully and relight it in the morning with your lighter.

Never bring fire inside

Never bring a fire, a stove, a barbecue or a tin of hot coals inside a tent, a car, a cabin with closed windows or any closed shelter, even for a few minutes to warm up. Burning fuel makes carbon monoxide, a gas you cannot see or smell. It makes you sleepy and confused, and it kills people every year in tents and campervans. Coals that look dead still give it off. Warm up with dry clothes, a sleeping bag, hot drinks from a stove used outside, and food instead.

💡 Headache, dizziness or sleepiness near any burning fuel means get into fresh air at once.

Drown, stir, feel

Putting a fire out properly takes longer than most people think. Stop adding wood an hour before you leave so it burns down to ash. Then drown it with plenty of water, stir the ashes and embers with a stick to expose hidden heat, and drown it again until the hissing stops. Feel for heat with the back of your hand held close, then touch. If it is too hot to touch, it is too hot to leave. If you have no water, use soil, but never bury hot coals, as they can smoulder for hours. Leave no trace of your fire behind.

Check yourself

Why is it better to cook on coals than flames?

Coals give steady heat you can control. Flames burn the outside of food and leave the inside raw.

Why should you never take hot coals into a tent?

Carbon monoxide is invisible and odourless, and coals keep making it even when they look dead.

What is the right way to put out a fire?

Stirring between two soakings exposes buried embers. If it is too hot to touch, it is too hot to leave.

What happens if you add too much wood at once?

Fire needs air. Too much wood, or wood that is too big, cuts off oxygen and the flame dies.

Try it for real: Cook a simple meal on coals

Gather and stack a full evening's wood by size before you light anything
Where and when fires are legal, light a small fire and let it burn down to coals
Toast bread or heat water over the coals, never leaving it unattended
Put it out with drown, stir, drown, feel and check it is cold to the touch