The Beginning

Fresh air. Who doesn’t want that? When my husband, Pat, and I took off on our full-time RV adventure we just assumed fresh air would be part of the package. We found out quickly we were wrong.

All of the campgrounds we have visited so far have provided a fire ring per campsite. In many places campsites have been so close together as to be considered urban areas. This has even been true in some of the state parks we have visited. If everyone in a full campground started a fire in their fire ring, the air quality would be atrocious. While this has never been the case in the campgrounds we have visited (thank goodness!), even a few fires in a campground can make it challenging to find a fresh breath of air.

Before I go any further let me establish that wood smoke from campfires is not just a benign smell that we are overreacting to. Yes, I am sensitive and allergic to a lot of things, and my sense of smell seems to have grown more sensitive over the years. According to the EPA, wood smoke contains “several toxic harmful air pollutants including: benzene, formaldehyde, acrolein and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.” The EPA goes on to say that short-term and long-term exposure to wood smoke can have detrimental health effects. You can read more at https://www.epa.gov/burnwise/wood-smoke-and-your-health.

Everyone in a campground is at risk from wood smoke. But we have found very little indication that the campers around us are concerned. The attitude we have witnessed usually is one of a right to have a campfire. Camping and campfires just naturally go together, don't they? We are treated as the ones with the problem if we act bothered. Since not everyone starts a campfire, though, (and we are extremely grateful for that!) maybe there are others who feel as we do but have decided to simply bear it as part of the package. As full-timers, we aren’t excited about taking a grin and bear approach. This is our home, and we would like to breathe fresh air when we are in and around it.

An interesting aside: we have noticed that often those who start campfires don’t actually do anything around them. They just walk away and are off to something else. But the fire smolders on. We have also discovered that few people know how to start a fire properly. They create more smoke than actual flame. And few appear to know how to put out a fire. Letting a fire smolder for hours even when no flame is present does not constitute putting out the fire. I suspect the advent of fire rings has led to this practice, which we have witnessed often.

And so I have started this blog to share our experiences. And reach out to anyone else who might share our view. If that doesn’t happen then I will be a voice in the literal wilderness hoping someday others will join this campaign.

I have read online that some campgrounds are starting to ban campfires but so far I have not found any listing that shows this. All campgrounds we have visited to date allow fires. I know that some campgrounds ban them when the wildfire risk is high, which is a start. I hope to list any campgrounds that ban or limit campfires as I find them (and I hope I do find some). Even having a communal place away from campers where a campfire can be started and shared (and those who want to be free from wood smoke can avoid) would be a beneficial change. If you know of any that ban or limit, let me know in the comments.

Here's to fresh air.