HOW TO MAKE A FIREPIT

At the minimum, a fire pit is a cleared area in a good spot.

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LOOK UP – sparks rise. Don’t light a fire beside an old shelter belt with lots of dry matter above you, and make sure there are no piles of dry grass or tinder close by. Check the wind – smoke theoretically goes downwind, but in reality it follows you around.

• CLEAR an area of anything flammable for about 2m around the site.

• NOTE: fires should not be lit in the only patch of shade.

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HAVE a large bucket of water with an old jute sack, woollen blanket or even an old towel soaking in it nearby. You hopefully won’t need it, but if you do, you’ll need it in a hurry and won’t have time to run to the hose/stream.

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USE it for rinsing hands after toileting, and then to douse the flames when finished.

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SOME like to dig a hole for their fire or edge it with stones. This contains the fire within a boundary but is not really necessary. If you do dig it down, leave a sloping ramp to the windward side; fires are all about burning oxygen and your flame may struggle down in a hole.

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SOME rocks can explode with heat. They are more likely to when wet (ie, river rocks) or have crystals in them so avoid those. I have only had it happen once and it was pretty interesting – no-one was hurt but we all aged five years in half a second.

• LEAVE a gap in the rocks on the windward side until your fire gets away.