108-404: A campfire is a fire at a campsite that provides light and warmth, and heat for cooking. It can also serve as a beacon , and an insect and predator deterrent. Established campgrounds often provide a stone or steel fire ring for safety. Campfires are a popular feature of camping . At summer camps, the word campfire often refers to an event (ceremony, get together, etc.) at which there
216-406: A catalyst , a substance that is not consumed, when added, in any chemical reaction during combustion, but which enables the reactants to combust more readily. Once ignited, a chain reaction must take place whereby fires can sustain their own heat by the further release of heat energy in the process of combustion and may propagate, provided there is a continuous supply of an oxidizer and fuel. If
324-403: A high energy fuel for jet and rocket engines , emits intense green flame, leading to its informal nickname of "Green Dragon". The glow of a flame is complex. Black-body radiation is emitted from soot, gas, and fuel particles, though the soot particles are too small to behave like perfect blackbodies. There is also photon emission by de-excited atoms and molecules in the gases. Much of
432-720: A basic form of log construction was used all over North Europe and Asia and later imported to America. Log construction was especially suited to Scandinavia, where straight, tall tree trunks ( pine and spruce ) are readily available. With suitable tools, a log cabin can be erected from scratch in days by a family. As no chemical reaction is involved, such as hardening of mortar, a log cabin can be erected in any weather or season. Many older towns in Northern Scandinavia have been built exclusively out of log houses, which have been decorated by board paneling and wood cuttings. Today, construction of modern log cabins as leisure homes
540-607: A broad range of mortar or other infill materials used between the logs in the construction of log cabins and other log-walled structures. Traditionally, dried mosses, such as Pleurozium schreberi or Hylocomium splendens , were used in the Nordic countries as an insulator between logs. In the United States, Chinks were small stones or wood or corn cobs stuffed between the logs. In the United States, settlers may have first constructed log cabins by 1640. Historians believe that
648-418: A ceremonial fire. The fire burns from the top down, with the layer of hot coals and burning stubs igniting the next layer down. Another variation to the top lighter, log cabin, or pyre is known by several names, most notably the pyramid, self-feeding, and upside-down [method]. The reasoning for this method are twofold. First, the layers of fuelwood take in the heat from the initial tinder/kindling, therefore, it
756-461: A combustible material left after a fire is called clinker if its melting point is below the flame temperature, so that it fuses and then solidifies as it cools, and ash if its melting point is above the flame temperature. Fire is a chemical process in which a fuel and an oxidizing agent react, yielding carbon dioxide and water . This process, known as a combustion reaction , does not proceed directly and involves intermediates . Although
864-489: A controversial gap in the Late Devonian , charcoal is present ever since. The level of atmospheric oxygen is closely related to the prevalence of charcoal: clearly oxygen is the key factor in the abundance of wildfire. Fire also became more abundant when grasses radiated and became the dominant component of many ecosystems, around 6 to 7 million years ago ; this kindling provided tinder which allowed for
972-406: A feast) limited only by the length of available tree trunks. The arrangement is also useful as beacon fire, i.e. a temporary light signal for ships far in the sea. The Swedish torch ( Schwedenfackel or Schwedenfeuer ) is also known by other names, including Swedish (log) candle, and Swedish log stove. This fire is unique because it uses only one piece of fairly-sized wood as its fuel. The log
1080-429: A fire from lighting properly: wet wood, wet weather, too little tinder, too much wind, or a lack of oxygen. Rain will douse a fire, but a combination of wind and fog also has a stifling effect. Metal fire rings generally do a good job of keeping out wind, but some of them are so high as to impede the circulation of oxygen in a small fire. To make matters worse, these tall fire rings also make it very difficult to blow on
1188-434: A fire without manufactured fuels or modern conveniences such as lighters : In most realistic cases nowadays, non-natural additions to the fuels mentioned above will be used. Often, charcoal lighters like hexamine fuel tablets or ethyl alcohol will be used to start the fire, as well as various types of scrap paper . With the proliferation of packaged food , it is quite likely that plastics will be incinerated as well,
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#17327873741511296-451: A fire. Fire rings, however, do not fully protect material on the ground from catching fire. Flying embers are still a threat, and the fire ring may become hot enough to ignite material in contact with it, or the heat the water to a vapor thereby cracking the rocks. Campfires can spark wildfires. As such, it is important for the fire builder to take multiple safety precautions, including: There are three types of material involved in building
1404-450: A fire. The most common form of active fire protection is fire sprinklers . To maximize passive fire protection of buildings, building materials and furnishings in most developed countries are tested for fire-resistance , combustibility and flammability . Upholstery , carpeting and plastics used in vehicles and vessels are also tested. Where fire prevention and fire protection have failed to prevent damage, fire insurance can mitigate
1512-415: A log cabin tends to compress slightly as it settles, over a few months or years. Nails would soon be out of alignment and torn out. Log cabins were largely built from logs laid horizontally and interlocked on the ends with notches. Some log cabins were built without notches and simply nailed together, but this was not as structurally sound. The most important aspect of cabin building is the site upon which
1620-732: A long history . Fire was the basis of all early thermal weapons . The Byzantine fleet used Greek fire to attack ships and men. The invention of gunpowder in China led to the fire lance , a flame-thrower weapon dating to around 1000 CE which was a precursor to projectile weapons driven by burning gunpowder . The earliest modern flamethrowers were used by infantry in the First World War , first used by German troops against entrenched French troops near Verdun in February 1915. They were later successfully mounted on armoured vehicles in
1728-472: A love of forests, and they ended up living alongside and even culturally assimilating with them (they are the earlier and lesser-known Findian tribe, being overshadowed by the Ojibwe Findians of Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario, Canada). In those forests, the first log cabins of America were built, using traditional Finnish methods. Even though New Sweden existed only briefly before it was absorbed by
1836-414: A pile of kindling burns between two pieces of fuelwood, and soon the logs catch fire from it. Another variation is called the funeral pyre method because it is used for building funeral pyres . Its main difference from the standard log cabin is that it starts with thin pieces and moves up to thick pieces. If built on a large scale, this type of fire-build collapses in a controlled manner without restricting
1944-674: A popular type of barn found throughout the American Southern and Southeastern regions . Crib barns were especially ubiquitous in the Appalachian and Ozark Mountain states of North Carolina , Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee , and Arkansas . In Europe , modern log cabins are often built in gardens and used as summerhouses, home offices, or as an additional room in the garden. Summer houses and cottages are often built from logs in Northern Europe . Chinking refers to
2052-400: A practice that not only produces toxic fumes but will also leave polluted ashes behind because of incomplete combustion at too-low open fire temperatures. There are a variety of designs to choose from in building a campfire. A functional design is important in the early stages of a fire. Most of them make no mention of fuelwood—in most designs, fuelwood is never placed on a fire until
2160-631: A series of mechanisms that behave differently in micro gravity when compared to normal gravity conditions. These discoveries have potential applications in applied science and industry , especially concerning fuel efficiency . The adiabatic flame temperature of a given fuel and oxidizer pair is that at which the gases achieve stable combustion. Fire science is a branch of physical science which includes fire behavior, dynamics, and combustion . Applications of fire science include fire protection , fire investigation , and wildfire management. Every natural ecosystem on land has its own fire regime , and
2268-436: A similar point in time. The use of fire became progressively more sophisticated, as it was used to create charcoal and to control wildlife from tens of thousands of years ago. Fire has also been used for centuries as a method of torture and execution, as evidenced by death by burning as well as torture devices such as the iron boot , which could be filled with water, oil , or even lead and then heated over an open fire to
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#17327873741512376-842: A variety of notches. One method common in the Ohio River Valley in Southwestern Ohio and Southeastern Indiana is the block house end method, which is exemplified in the David Brown House in Rising Sun, Indiana . Some older buildings in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian Prairies are log structures covered with clapboards or other materials. 19th-century cabins used as dwellings were occasionally plastered on
2484-421: A venue for conversation, storytelling , or song. Another traditional campfire activity involves impaling marshmallows on sticks or uncoiled wire coat hangers , and roasting them over the fire. Roasted marshmallows may also be used for s'more s. Beside the danger of people receiving burns from the fire or embers, campfires may spread into a larger fire. A campfire may burn out of control in two basic ways: on
2592-399: A very long time. A well constructed rakovalkea of two thick logs of two meters in length can warm two lean-to shelters for a whole sleeping shift. The construction causes the logs themselves to protect the fire from the wind. Thus, exposure to smoke is unlikely for the sleepers; nevertheless someone should always watch in case of an emergency. Second, it can be easily scaled to larger sizes (for
2700-670: Is a fire. Some camps refer to the fire itself as a campfire. A new analysis of burned antelope bones from caves in Swartkrans , South Africa , confirms that Australopithecus robustus and/or Homo erectus built campfires roughly 1.6 million years ago. Nearby evidence within Wonderwerk Cave , at the edge of the Kalahari Desert , has been called the oldest known controlled fire. Microscopic analysis of plant ash and charred bone fragments suggests that materials in
2808-463: Is a fully developed industry in Finland and Sweden. Modern log cabins often feature fiberglass insulation and are sold as prefabricated kits machined in a factory, rather than hand-built in the field like ancient log cabins. Log cabins are mostly constructed without the use of nails and thus derive their stability from simple stacking, with only a few dowel joints for reinforcement. This is because
2916-806: Is a popular technique for cooking hot dogs or toasting marshmallows for making s'mores. This type of cooking over the fire typically consists of comfort foods that are easy to prepare. There is also no clean up involved unlike an actual kitchen. Another technique is to use pie irons—small iron molds with long handles. Campers put slices of bread with some kind of filling into the molds and put them over hot coals to cook. Campers sometimes use elaborate grills, cast iron pots, and fire irons to cook. Often, however, they use portable stoves for cooking instead of campfires. Other practical, though not commonly needed, applications for campfires include drying wet clothing , alleviating hypothermia , and distress signaling . Most campfires, though, are exclusively for recreation, often as
3024-443: Is added in the same manner. The smallest kindling is placed over the top of the assembly. Of all the fire-builds, the log cabin is the least vulnerable to premature collapse, but it is also inefficient because it makes the worst use of convection to ignite progressively larger pieces of fuel. However, these qualities make the log cabin an ideal cooking fire as it burns for a long period of time and can support cookware. A variation on
3132-417: Is built by positioning two pieces of wood with the tinder in between. Once the fire is burning well, additional pieces of wood are placed on top in layers that alternate directions. This type of fire creates coals suitable for cooking. A lean-to fire-build starts with the same pile of tinder as the tipi fire-build. Then, a long, thick piece of kindling is driven into the ground at an angle, so that it overhangs
3240-465: Is cleaned up to make it look untouched after the fire is extinguished. Campfire ashes are sometimes used in ceremonies like the Scouting campfire ash ceremony . Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel ) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion , releasing heat , light , and various reaction products . At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called
3348-439: Is either partially cut (though some variants involve completely splitting it) and then set upright. Ideally, the log should be cut evenly and placed on a level surface for stability. Tinder and kindling are added to the preformed chamber created by the initial cuts. Eventually, the fire becomes self-feeding. The flat, circular top provides a surface for placing a kettle or pan for cooking, boiling liquids, and more. In some instances,
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3456-410: Is especially concerning with a large fire. A log cabin fire-build likewise begins with a tinder pile. The kindling is then stacked around it, as in the construction of a log cabin . The first two kindling sticks are laid parallel to each other, on opposite sides of the tinder pile. The second pair is laid on top of the first, at right angles to it, and also on opposite sides of the tinder. More kindling
3564-537: Is feeding the fire. Fire prevention is intended to reduce sources of ignition. Fire prevention also includes education to teach people how to avoid causing fires. Buildings, especially schools and tall buildings, often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare citizens on how to react to a building fire. Purposely starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a crime in most jurisdictions. Model building codes require passive fire protection and active fire protection systems to minimize damage resulting from
3672-417: Is its use to clear land for agriculture. Slash-and-burn agriculture is still common across much of tropical Africa, Asia and South America. For small farmers, controlled fires are a convenient way to clear overgrown areas and release nutrients from standing vegetation back into the soil. However, this useful strategy is also problematic. Growing population, fragmentation of forests and warming climate are making
3780-508: Is less likely, but a fire in a branch is extremely difficult to put out without firefighting equipment, and may spread more quickly than a ground fire. Embers may simply fall off logs and float away in the air, or exploding pockets of sap may eject them at high speed. With these dangers in mind, some places prohibit all open fires, particularly at times prone to wildfires . Many public camping areas prohibit campfires. Public areas with large tracts of woodland usually have signs that indicate
3888-425: Is not available, a temporary fire site may be constructed. Bare rock or unvegetated ground is ideal for a fire site. Alternatively, turf may be cut away to form a bare area and carefully replaced after the fire has cooled to minimize damage. Another way is to cover the ground with sand , or other soil mostly free of flammable organic material, to a depth of a few inches. A ring of rocks is sometimes constructed around
3996-498: Is not lost to the surrounding ground. In effect, the fire is "off the ground", and burns its way down through its course. And secondly, this fire type requires minimal labor, thereby making it ideal as a fire of choice before bedding down for the evening without having to get up periodically to add fuelwood and/or stoke the fire to keep it going. Start by adding the largest fuelwood in a parallel "layer", then continue to add increasingly smaller and smaller fuelwood layers perpendicularly to
4104-404: Is one of the four classical elements and has been used by humans in rituals , in agriculture for clearing land, for cooking, generating heat and light, for signaling, propulsion purposes, smelting , forging , incineration of waste, cremation , and as a weapon or mode of destruction. The word "fire" originated from Old English Fyr 'Fire, a fire', which can be traced back to
4212-460: Is placed in the fire, then the fuel wood is placed on top of it (unless, as in the rakovalkea fire-build, it is already there). Campfires have been used for cooking since time immemorial . Possibly the simplest method of cooking over a campfire and one of the most common is to roast food on long skewers that can be held above red glowing embers, or on the side near the flames (not over flames in order to avoid soot contamination and burnt food). This
4320-417: Is used by nearly every human being on Earth in a controlled setting every day. Users of internal combustion vehicles employ fire every time they drive. Thermal power stations provide electricity for a large percentage of humanity by igniting fuels such as coal , oil or natural gas , then using the resultant heat to boil water into steam , which then drives turbines . The use of fire in warfare has
4428-471: Is useful in very high winds, as the piece of fuel wood acts as a windbreak. The traditional Finnish rakovalkea ( lit. ' slit bonfire ' ), or nying in Scandinavian languages , also called by English terms long log fire or gap fire, is constructed by placing one long and thick piece of fuelwood (log) atop another, parallel, and bolstering them in place with four sturdy posts driven into
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4536-602: The Germanic root * fūr- , which itself comes from the Proto-Indo-European * perjos from the root * paewr- ' fire ' . The current spelling of "fire" has been in use since as early as 1200, but it was not until around 1600 that it completely replaced the Middle English term fier (which is still preserved in the word "fiery"). The fossil record of fire first appears with
4644-408: The flash point for the fuel /oxidizer mix, and is able to sustain a rate of rapid oxidation that produces a chain reaction . This is commonly called the fire tetrahedron . Fire cannot exist without all of these elements in place and in the right proportions. For example, a flammable liquid will start burning only if the fuel and oxygen are in the right proportions. Some fuel-oxygen mixes may require
4752-533: The 18th century still stand, but they were often not intended as permanent dwellings. Possibly the oldest surviving log house in the United States is the C. A. Nothnagle Log House ( c. 1640 ) in New Jersey. Settlers often built log cabins as temporary homes to live in while constructing larger, permanent houses; then they either demolished the log structures or used them as outbuildings, such as barns or chicken coops . Log cabins were sometimes hewn on
4860-637: The Dutch colony of New Netherland , which was eventually taken over by the English, these quick and easy construction techniques of the Finns not only remained, but spread. Germans and Ukrainians also used this technique. The contemporaneous British settlers had no tradition of building with logs, but they quickly adopted the method. The first English settlers did not widely use log cabins, building in forms more traditional to them. Few log cabins dating from
4968-575: The Second World War, notably on Coventry , Tokyo , Rotterdam , London , Hamburg and Dresden ; in the latter two cases firestorms were deliberately caused in which a ring of fire surrounding each city was drawn inward by an updraft caused by a central cluster of fires. The United States Army Air Force also extensively used incendiaries against Japanese targets in the latter months of the war, devastating entire cities constructed primarily of wood and paper houses. The incendiary fluid napalm
5076-504: The Second World War. Hand-thrown incendiary bombs improvised from glass bottles, later known as Molotov cocktails , were deployed during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Also during that war, incendiary bombs were deployed against Guernica by Fascist Italian and Nazi German air forces that had been created specifically to support Franco's Nationalists . Incendiary bombs were dropped by Axis and Allies during
5184-424: The absence of people, leading to property damage, personal injury or possibly a wildfire. Ash is a good insulator , so embers left overnight only lose a fraction of their heat. It is often possible to restart the new day's fire using the embers. To properly cool a fire, water is splashed on all embers, including places that are not glowing red. Splashing the water is both more effective and efficient in extinguishing
5292-476: The agony of the wearer. By the Neolithic Revolution , during the introduction of grain-based agriculture, people all over the world used fire as a tool in landscape management. These fires were typically controlled burns or "cool fires", as opposed to uncontrolled "hot fires", which damage the soil. Hot fires destroy plants and animals, and endanger communities. This is especially a problem in
5400-409: The airflow. A hybrid fire combines the elements of both the tipi and the log cabin creating an easily lit yet stable fire structure. The hybrid is made by first erecting a small tipi and then proceeding to construct a log cabin around it. This fire structure combines benefits of both fire types: the tipi allows the fire to ignite easily and the log cabin sustains the fire for a long time. A cross-fire
5508-491: The burning of vegetation releases nitrogen into the atmosphere, unlike elements such as potassium and phosphorus which remain in the ash and are quickly recycled into the soil. This loss of nitrogen caused by a fire produces a long-term reduction in the fertility of the soil, which can be recovered as atmospheric nitrogen is fixed and converted to ammonia by natural phenomena such as lightning or by leguminous plants such as clover , peas , and green beans . Fire
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#17327873741515616-535: The cabin was built. Site selection was aimed at providing the cabin inhabitants with both sunlight and drainage to make them better able to cope with the rigors of frontier life. Proper site selection placed the home in a location best suited to manage the farm or ranch. When the first pioneers built cabins, they were able to "cherry pick" the best logs for cabins. These were old-growth trees with few limbs (knots) and straight with little taper. Such logs did not need to be hewn to fit well together. Careful notching minimized
5724-405: The cabin. The decision about roof type often was based on the material for roofing like bark. Milled lumber was usually the most popular choice for rafter roofs in areas where it was available. These roofs typify many log cabins built in the 20th century, having full-cut 2×4 rafters covered with pine and cedar shingles. The purlin roofs found in rural settings and locations, where milled lumber
5832-402: The cave were not heated above about 1,300 °F (704 °C). This is consistent with preliminary findings that the fires burned grasses, brush, and leaves. Such fuel would not produce hotter flames. The data suggests humans were cooking prey by campfire as far back as the first appearance of Homo erectus 1.9 million years ago. Ideally, campfires should be made in a fire ring. If a fire ring
5940-400: The characteristic triangular gable end. The steepness of the roof was determined by the reduction in size of each gable-wall log as well as the total number of gable-wall logs. Flatter roofed cabins might have had only 2 or 3 gable-wall logs while steeply pitched roofs might have had as many gable-wall logs as a full story. Issues related to eave overhang and a porch also influenced the layout of
6048-455: The crude "pirtti"... a small gabled-roof cabin of round logs with an opening in the roof to vent smoke, to more sophisticated squared logs with interlocking double-notch joints, the timber extending beyond the corners. Log saunas or bathhouses of this type are still found in rural Finland. By stacking tree trunks one on top of another and overlapping the logs at the corners, people made the "log cabin". They developed interlocking corners by notching
6156-596: The decades, increasingly complex joints were developed to ensure more weather tight joints between the logs, but the profiles were still largely based on the round log. A medieval log cabin was considered movable property, evidenced by the relocation of Espåby in 1557, where the buildings were disassembled, transported to a new location, and reassembled. It was also common to replace individual logs damaged by dry rot as necessary. The Wood Museum in Trondheim , Norway, displays fourteen different traditional profiles, but
6264-642: The deep forests of inland Sweden and Norway, during Sweden's 600+ year colonial rule over Finland, who since 1640 were being captured and displaced to the colony. After arriving, they would escape the Fort Christina center where the Swedes lived, to go and live in the forest as they did back home. They encountered the Lenape Indian tribe, with whom they found many cultural similarities, including slash and burn agriculture, sweat lodges and saunas, and
6372-477: The earth's surface more prone to ever-larger escaped fires. These harm ecosystems and human infrastructure, cause health problems, and send up spirals of carbon and soot that may encourage even more warming of the atmosphere – and thus feed back into more fires. Globally today, as much as 5 million square kilometres – an area more than half the size of the United States – burns in a given year. There are numerous modern applications of fire. In its broadest sense, fire
6480-400: The elevated position of the fire can serve as a better beacon than a typical ground-based campfire. A keyhole fire is made in a keyhole-shaped fire ring, and is used in cooking. The large round area is used to build a fire to create coals. As coals develop, they are scraped into the rectangular area used for cooking. A "top lighter" fire is built similar to a log cabin or pyre, but instead of
6588-843: The end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Log cabin building never died out or fell out of favor. It was surpassed by the needs of a growing urban United States. During the 1930s and the Great Depression , the Roosevelt administration directed the Civilian Conservation Corps to build log lodges throughout the west for use by the Forest Service and the National Park Service . Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon
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#17327873741516696-611: The establishment of a land-based flora in the Middle Ordovician period, 470 million years ago , permitting the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere as never before, as the new hordes of land plants pumped it out as a waste product. When this concentration rose above 13%, it permitted the possibility of wildfire . Wildfire is first recorded in the Late Silurian fossil record, 420 million years ago , by fossils of charcoalified plants. Apart from
6804-609: The exterior and sometimes interior of the house. These cabins are mass manufactured, traditionally in Scandinavian countries and increasingly in Eastern Europe . Squared milled logs are precut for easy assembly. Log homes are popular in rural areas, and even in some suburban locations. In many resort communities in the Western United States , homes of log and stone measuring over 3,000 sq ft (280 m ) are not uncommon. These "kit" log homes are one of
6912-652: The familiar red-orange glow of "fire". This light has a continuous spectrum . Complete combustion of gas has a dim blue color due to the emission of single-wavelength radiation from various electron transitions in the excited molecules formed in the flame. Usually oxygen is involved, but hydrogen burning in chlorine also produces a flame, producing hydrogen chloride (HCl). Other possible combinations producing flames, amongst many, are fluorine and hydrogen , and hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide . Hydrogen and hydrazine/ UDMH flames are similarly pale blue, while burning boron and its compounds, evaluated in mid-20th century as
7020-737: The financial impact. Log cabin A log cabin is a small log house , especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settlers. Construction with logs was described by Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio in his architectural treatise De Architectura . He noted that in Pontus in present-day northeastern Turkey , dwellings were constructed by laying logs horizontally overtop of each other and filling in
7128-496: The fire at the "hub," and push each log towards the center as the flames consume the ends. Once the fire is built, the tinder is lighted, using one of several methods A reasonably skilful fire-builder using reasonably good material only needs one match. The tinder burns brightly, but reduced to glowing embers within half a minute. If the kindling does not catch fire, the fire-builder must gather more tinder, determine what went wrong and try to fix it. One of five problems can prevent
7236-409: The fire danger level, which usually depends on recent rain and the amount of deadfall or dry debris. Even in safer times, it is common to require registration and permits to build a campfire. Such areas are often kept under observation by rangers , who will dispatch someone to investigate any unidentified plume of smoke. Leaving a fire unattended can be dangerous. Any number of accidents might occur in
7344-400: The fire of oxygen. Sand works well, but is less effective than water at absorbing heat. Once the fire is covered thoroughly with sand, water is then added over the fire. When winter or "snow" camping with an inch or more of snow on the ground, neither of the above protocols are necessary—simply douse visible flames before leaving. In lightly used wilderness areas, the area around the campfire
7452-412: The fire properly. A small, enclosed fire that has slowed down may require vigorous blowing to get it going again, but excess blowing can extinguish a fire. Most large fires easily create their own circulation, even in unfavourable conditions, but the variant log-cabin fire-build suffers from a chronic lack of air so long as the initial structure is maintained. Once large kindling is burning, all kindling
7560-407: The fire. Because of this, the risk of fire in a spacecraft is small when it is coasting in inertial flight. This does not apply if oxygen is supplied to the fire by some process other than thermal convection. Fire can be extinguished by removing any one of the elements of the fire tetrahedron. Consider a natural gas flame, such as from a stove-top burner. The fire can be extinguished by any of
7668-409: The fire. The water boils violently and carries ash in the air with it, dirtying anything nearby but not posing a safety hazard. Water is continuously poured until the hissing stops, then the ashes are stirred to ensure that water reaches the entire fire, and more water is added if necessary. When the fire is fully extinguished, the ashes are cool to the touch. If water is scarce, sand is used to deprive
7776-625: The first log cabins built in North America were in the Swedish colony of New Sweden along the Delaware River and Brandywine River valleys. Most of the settlers were actually Forest Finns , a heavily oppressed Finnish ethnic group originally from Savonia and Tavastia , who starting from the 1500s were displaced or persuaded to go inhabit and practice slash and burn agriculture (which they were famous for in eastern Finland) in
7884-668: The flame becomes spherical, with a tendency to become more blue and more efficient (although it may go out if not moved steadily, as the CO 2 from combustion does not disperse as readily in microgravity, and tends to smother the flame). There are several possible explanations for this difference, of which the most likely is that the temperature is sufficiently evenly distributed that soot is not formed and complete combustion occurs. Experiments by NASA reveal that diffusion flames in microgravity allow more soot to be completely oxidized after they are produced than diffusion flames on Earth, because of
7992-405: The following: In contrast, fire is intensified by increasing the overall rate of combustion. Methods to do this include balancing the input of fuel and oxidizer to stoichiometric proportions, increasing fuel and oxidizer input in this balanced mix, increasing the ambient temperature so the fire's own heat is better able to sustain combustion, or providing a catalyst, a non-reactant medium in which
8100-595: The food. The heat produced would also help people stay warm in cold weather, enabling them to live in cooler climates. Fire also kept nocturnal predators at bay. Evidence of occasional cooked food is found from 1 million years ago . Although this evidence shows that fire may have been used in a controlled fashion about 1 million years ago, other sources put the date of regular use at 400,000 years ago. Evidence becomes widespread around 50 to 100 thousand years ago, suggesting regular use from this time; resistance to air pollution started to evolve in human populations at
8208-484: The forests of today where traditional burning is prevented in order to encourage the growth of timber crops. Cool fires are generally conducted in the spring and autumn. They clear undergrowth, burning up biomass that could trigger a hot fire should it get too dense. They provide a greater variety of environments, which encourages game and plant diversity. For humans, they make dense, impassable forests traversable. Another human use for fire in regards to landscape management
8316-460: The fuel and oxidizer can more readily react. A flame is a mixture of reacting gases and solids emitting visible, infrared , and sometimes ultraviolet light, the frequency spectrum of which depends on the chemical composition of the burning material and intermediate reaction products. In many cases, such as the burning of organic matter , for example wood, or the incomplete combustion of gas, incandescent solid particles called soot produce
8424-646: The fuel; how to stoke the fire both in early phases and in maintenance phases; how to modulate the heat, flame, and smoke as suited to the desired application; how best to bank a fire to be revived later; how to choose, design, or modify stoves, fireplaces, bakery ovens, or industrial furnaces ; and so on. Detailed expositions of fire management are available in various books about blacksmithing, about skilled camping or military scouting , and about domestic arts . Burning fuel converts chemical energy into heat energy; wood has been used as fuel since prehistory . The International Energy Agency states that nearly 80% of
8532-649: The gaps with "chips and mud". Log cabin construction has its roots in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe . Although their precise origin is uncertain, the first log structures were probably being built in Northern Europe by the Bronze Age around 3500 BC. C. A. Weslager describes Europeans as having: The Finns were accomplished in building several forms of log housing, having different methods of corner timbering, and they utilized both round and hewn logs. Their log building had undergone an evolutionary process from
8640-479: The ground or in the trees . Dead leaves or pine needles on the ground may ignite from direct contact with burning wood , or from thermal radiation . If a root, particularly a dead one, is exposed to fire, it may smoulder underground and ignite the parent tree long after the original fire is doused and the campers have left the area. Alternatively, airborne embers (or their smaller kin, sparks ) may ignite dead material in overhanging branches . This latter threat
8748-473: The ground. Traditionally, whole un-split tree trunks provide the fuelwood. Kindling and tinder are placed between the logs in sufficient quantity (while avoiding the very ends) to raise the upper log and allow ventilation. The tinder is always lit at the center so the bolstering posts near the ends do not burn prematurely. The rakovalkea has two significant features. First, it burns slowly but steadily when lit; it does not require arduous maintenance, but burns for
8856-407: The ignition point, flames are produced. The flame is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma . Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different. Fire, in its most common form, has
8964-598: The interior. The O'Farrell Cabin ( c. 1865 ) in Boise , Idaho , had backed wallpaper used over newspaper. The C.C.A. Christenson Cabin in Ephraim , Utah ( c. 1880 ) was plastered over willow lath. Log cabins reached their peak of complexity and elaboration with the Adirondack-style cabins of the mid-19th century. This style was the inspiration for many United States Park Service lodges built at
9072-488: The kindling is burning strongly. The tipi (or teepee) fire-build takes some patience to construct. First, the tinder is piled up in a compact heap. The smaller kindling is arranged around it, like the poles of a tipi . For added strength, it may be possible to lash some of the sticks together. A tripod lashing is quite difficult to execute with small sticks, so a clove hitch should suffice. (Synthetic rope should be avoided since it produces pollutants when it burns.) Then
9180-403: The larger kindling is arranged above the smaller kindling, taking care not to collapse the tipi. A separate tipi as a shell around the first one may work better. Tipi fires are excellent for producing heat to keep people warm. The gases from the bottom quickly come to the top as you add more sticks. One downside to a Tipi fire is that when it burns, the logs become unstable and can fall over. This
9288-490: The largest consumers of logs in the Western United States. In the United States, log homes have embodied a traditional approach to home building, one that has resonated throughout American history . Log homes represent a technology that allows a home to be built with a high degree of sustainability . They are frequently considered to be on the leading edge of the green building movement. Crib barns were
9396-406: The last layer. Once enough wood is piled, there should be a decent "platform" to make the tipi [tinder/kindling] to initiate the fire. A Dakota smokeless pit fire is a tactical fire used by the United States military as the flame produces a low light signature, reduced smoke, and is easier to ignite under strong wind conditions. Two small holes are dug in the ground: one vertical for the firewood and
9504-421: The log cabin starts with two pieces of fuelwood with a pile of tinder between them, and small kindling laid over the tops of the logs, above the tinder. The tinder is lit, and the kindling is allowed to catch fire. When it is burning briskly, it is broken and pushed down into the consumed tinder, and the larger kindling is placed over the top of the logs. When that is burning well, it is also pushed down. Eventually,
9612-449: The logs at the ends, resulting in strong structures that were easier to make weather-tight by inserting moss or other soft material into the joints. As the original coniferous forest extended over the coldest parts of the world, there was a prime need to keep these cabins warm. The insulating properties of the solid wood were a great advantage over a timber frame construction covered with animal skins, felt , boards or shingles . Over
9720-473: The more rapid spread of fire. These widespread fires may have initiated a positive feedback process, whereby they produced a warmer, drier climate more conducive to fire. The ability to control fire was a dramatic change in the habits of early humans. Making fire to generate heat and light made it possible for people to cook food, simultaneously increasing the variety and availability of nutrients and reducing disease by killing pathogenic microorganisms in
9828-435: The organisms in those ecosystems are adapted to or dependent upon that fire regime. Fire creates a mosaic of different habitat patches, each at a different stage of succession . Different species of plants, animals, and microbes specialize in exploiting a particular stage, and by creating these different types of patches, fire allows a greater number of species to exist within a landscape. Wildfire prevention programs around
9936-426: The orientation of doors and windows all needed to be taken into account when the cabin was designed. In addition, the source of the logs, the source of stone and available labor, either human or animal, had to be considered. If timber sources were further away from the site, the cabin size might be limited. Cabin corners were often set on large stones; if the cabin was large, other stones were used at other points along
10044-430: The other slanted to the bottom of the first hole to provide a draft of air for nearly complete combustion. Optional are flat stones to partially cover the first hole and provide support for cookery, and a tree over the pits to disperse the smoke. A Star Fire, or Indian Fire, is the fire design often depicted as the campfire of the old West. Someone lays six or so logs out like the spokes of a wheel (star-shaped). They start
10152-400: The outside so that siding might be applied; they also might be hewn inside and covered with a variety of materials, ranging from plaster over lath to wallpaper . Log cabins were constructed with either a purlin roof structure or a rafter roof structure. A purlin roof consists of horizontal logs that are notched into the gable-wall logs. The latter are progressively shortened to form
10260-407: The oxidizer is oxygen from the surrounding air, the presence of a force of gravity , or of some similar force caused by acceleration, is necessary to produce convection , which removes combustion products and brings a supply of oxygen to the fire. Without gravity, a fire rapidly surrounds itself with its own combustion products and non-oxidizing gases from the air, which exclude oxygen and extinguish
10368-421: The oxidizing agent is typically oxygen , other compounds are able to fulfill the role. For instance, chlorine trifluoride is able to ignite sand . Fires start when a flammable or a combustible material, in combination with a sufficient quantity of an oxidizer such as oxygen gas or another oxygen-rich compound (though non-oxygen oxidizers exist), is exposed to a source of heat or ambient temperature above
10476-532: The potential to result in conflagration , which can lead to physical damage, which can be permanent, through burning . Fire is a significant process that influences ecological systems worldwide. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. Its negative effects include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination. When fire removes protective vegetation , heavy rainfall can contribute to increased soil erosion by water . Additionally,
10584-495: The radiation is emitted in the visible and infrared bands. The color depends on temperature for the black-body radiation, and on chemical makeup for the emission spectra . The common distribution of a flame under normal gravity conditions depends on convection , as soot tends to rise to the top of a general flame, as in a candle in normal gravity conditions, making it yellow. In microgravity or zero gravity , such as an environment in outer space , convection no longer occurs, and
10692-446: The sill (bottom log). Since they were usually cut into the sill, thresholds were supported with rock as well. These stones are found below the corners of many 18th-century cabins as they are restored. Cabins were set on foundations to keep them out of damp soil but also to allow for storage or basements to be constructed below the cabin. Cabins with earth floors had no need for foundations. In North America , cabins were constructed using
10800-432: The size of the gap between the logs and reduced the amount of chinking (sticks or rocks) or daubing (mud) needed to fill the gap. The length of one log was generally the length of one wall, although this was not a limitation for most good cabin builders. Decisions had to be made about the type of cabin. Styles varied greatly from one part of North America to another: the size of the cabin, the number of stories, type of roof,
10908-422: The tinder and kindling being placed inside the cabin, it is placed in a tipi on top. The small tipi is lighted on top, and the coals eventually fall down into the log cabin. Outdoor youth organizations often build these fires for "council fires" or ceremonial fires. They burn predictably, and with some practice a builder can estimate how long they will last. They also do not throw off much heat, which isn't needed for
11016-422: The tinder pile. The smaller pieces of kindling are leaned against the big stick so that the tinder is enclosed between them. In an alternative method, a large piece of fuelwood or log can be placed on the ground next to the tinder pile. Then kindling is placed with one end propped up by the larger piece of fuelwood, and the other resting on the ground so that the kindling is leaning over the tinder pile. This method
11124-573: The world may employ techniques such as wildland fire use and prescribed or controlled burns . Wildland fire use refers to any fire of natural causes that is monitored but allowed to burn. Controlled burns are fires ignited by government agencies under less dangerous weather conditions. Fire fighting services are provided in most developed areas to extinguish or contain uncontrolled fires. Trained firefighters use fire apparatus , water supply resources such as water mains and fire hydrants or they might use A and B class foam depending on what
11232-462: The world's power has consistently come from fossil fuels such as petroleum , natural gas , and coal in the past decades. The fire in a power station is used to heat water, creating steam that drives turbines . The turbines then spin an electric generator to produce electricity. Fire is also used to provide mechanical work directly by thermal expansion , in both external and internal combustion engines . The unburnable solid remains of
11340-459: Was not available, often were covered with long hand-split shingles. The log cabin has been a symbol of humble origins in U.S. politics since the early 19th century. At least seven U.S. presidents were born in log cabins, including Andrew Jackson , James K. Polk , Millard Fillmore , Franklin Pierce , James Buchanan , Abraham Lincoln , and James A. Garfield . Although William Henry Harrison
11448-592: Was not born in a log cabin, he and the Whigs were among the first to use them during the 1840 presidential election as a symbol to show Americans that he was a man of the people. Other candidates followed Harrison's example, making the idea of a log cabin a recurring theme in U.S. presidential campaigns. More than a century after Harrison, Adlai Stevenson II said, "I wasn't born in a log cabin. I didn't work my way through school nor did I rise from rags to riches, and there's no use trying to pretend I did." Stevenson lost
11556-529: Was such a log structure, and it was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . In 1930, the world's largest log cabin was constructed at a private resort in Montebello , Quebec , Canada . Often described as a log château, it serves as the Château Montebello hotel. The modern version of a log cabin is the log home , which is a house built usually from milled logs. The logs are visible on
11664-655: Was used in July 1944, towards the end of the Second World War , although its use did not gain public attention until the Vietnam War . Controlling a fire to optimize its size, shape, and intensity is generally called fire management , and the more advanced forms of it, as traditionally (and sometimes still) practiced by skilled cooks, blacksmiths , ironmasters , and others, are highly skilled activities. They include knowledge of which fuel to burn; how to arrange
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