Is it safe to leave a campfire unattended overnight in a campsite?

Question

Yesterday I was staying near Lake Wenatchee in Washington in an official campsite. There was a fire pit on site consisting of circular piece of metal and some rocks. The closest trees/objects were around 10 feet away, otherwise it was surrounded by nothing but dirt. There was also a grate available for cooking. So pretty safe as far as I can tell.

At the end of the day we had an argument - I wanted to keep the fire burning so that we could enjoy the light as we go to sleep. Others were saying that its not allowed so in the end we put it out. Now that I'm back, I'm trying to understand why its not allowed? From a quick Google the arguments are:

1. "Its illegal". Well, so is marijuana on a Federal level but a lot of people still smoke it while camping.
2. Fire might ignite nearby objects. Didn't apply as closest objects were 10 feet away.
3. Wind might spread fuel around. I can see this happening, but there was a cooking grate available so we could've covered the fire to prevent wind from carrying it far.
4. Kids might go play with it when you're not around. Good argument but no kids were present on the trip, nor was there a single kid in nearby campsites as far as I could tell.

So... are there conditions under which you can leave the fire burning overnight while sleeping next to it in a tent? What are the risks involved and can they be mitigated?

NB: since it was pointed out in comments, fires are currently allowed at campfires in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. We were at Nason Creek Campsite which is close to the lake but not part of the park where fires are banned.

Answer 1

The short answer is No, never leave a fire unattended.

The reasons are some of the ones you listed above, but you understated the major risk:

Unattended fires can easily spread - a log rolls out or cinders/sparks escape and set the forest on fire. Fires can be seemingly out, but retain enough heat to re-start themselves easily. 10 feet (~3 m) is not a large clear zone, and a grate will not prevent embers from being transported on the wind. Tents are generally made from plastics these days, and are very flammable. If there are overhanging trees, these can be heated by the rising hot air and sparks, igniting them. This can happen up to several metres (3.3 feet/metre) above the fire in the right conditions.

Additionally a major risk is that someone will step into the fire in the night and get severely burned. Fires that are cooling are covered in ash and not necessarily glowing, but still very hot. This is one of the major risks of lighting fires on a beach - people assume that covering it with sand is enough to extinguish the fire, but someone walks on top of it and gets badly burned.

Always extinguish your fire - pour water on, stir the ashes to ensure it is cool to the touch, add more water if necessary. You really really do not want to be responsible for the cost of putting out a forest fire or for paying for someones injury lawsuit.

I'm editing this rather late in the piece to add personal anecdotes regarding the durability and dispersal of fires

1. At my parents' house in a rural area, we would often have a small bonfire (~1 m/3' diameter) to get rid of garden waste during Autumn. My father would often pile on large bunches of green/wet problem weeds (i.e. the sort you don't want to compost as they'll take over the compost and you'll never get rid of them). These weeds would then produce large clouds of smoke, that if the wind were in the right direction, would blow over a local highway. On one such occasion, we had had the fire burning for a couple of days (going out overnight, but re-lit by adding dry tinder to the still hot ashes) and added the weeds. The fire-department came and extinguished the fire using a garden hose and admonished my parents to not do it again. Approximately 2 hours later a plume of smoke started rising from the fire without any interference from us!
2. Apologies to the environment in advance; this was in the 1980's, before we/I knew better. One time we tried lofting plastic supermarket bags over the fire. One such bag rose on the plume of heat up to ~100 m (a wild guess, but certainly much higher than our ~30 m hedging trees) and was wafted away on the breeze. Now this isn't cinders or sparks, which would likely have gone out over that distance/time, but it was only a small fire on a calm day, a larger fire might well have lofted embers higher/further.

I add these to underline the dangers of fire and how easily it is to underestimate them and what can happen.

Answer 2

It's the sparks/small expelled burning bits I'd worry about, they can go a long way in the wind (far more than your 10ft, and a grate doesn't keep them in), although there's not a huge amount you can do if they start a fire up in a tree.

In drought conditions, even if fires are permitted by law and conditions, I'd keep them to a minimum in size and time - a small cooking fire would be out by morning anyway so you may as well put it out. With a clear fire pit and only your group around, burning out and smothering could (make a judgement call at the time) be adequate IMO, because no one will step in that by accident - but you have to allow time, or douse it. The advantage of burning it out is that the you'll be left with a good place to start a morning cooking fire.

The wind direction and speed often change overnight too, so those same sparks could end up blowing onto your tent and melting holes. I've seen this happen with a double ring of tents round a fire; the closer ones were fine but a couple further away were badly damaged. That was probably more like 30ft from the fire, during the late evening

In the conditions you currently have, you should probably prepare for a total ban on fires being imposed at the last minute, and be able to cook without one anyway.

Answer 3

(Sharing this because I felt pretty stupid at the time and hope people learn from my stupidity.)

I almost started a fire by mistake in BC 3 yrs ago, in a very remote area. I thought moss did not burn well - it does. Luckily I saw it within 30 seconds and I was 20m away from the shoreline - dumped my drinking water to start with, doused with repeat hauls of seawater.

5 minutes of panic and hyperventilation until it was all safe.

Though I don't think there was yet a fire prohibition when I set out, there was one when I returned (2 nights out). That summer later turned into one of our repeat smoke-seen-from-space messes. And even then my main motivation for that fire was seeing bear poo right by my landing spot.

Don't overanalyze and over-argue: we are at near drought condition here, so you are too and our massive forests burn wonderfully well.

Don't do anything remotely "daring" with fires in the Pacific NorthWest IN SUMMER. Avoid them entirely if possible.

p.s. I suspect many parts of the world have the same seasonal risks: the Med seems to burn every summer, for example.

Answer 4

Another reason for not leaving a fire unattended or burning for longer than needed are the smaller roots of trees that are closer to the ground surface and can reach quite far (even 10 feet). If you build a fire that is dug into the ground then you might cut through some of these roots. Lighting a fire can set these small roots on fire, and in case of dry weather the kindling roots get oxygen from the cracked soil. In the end the whole tree can light up, seemingly unrelated to the original fireplace.

Depends on terrain, vegetation, weather, but it's still a good reason not to leave a fire unattended or burning for more than necessary.