Nice campfire, but how good is its smoke for you?/Kurt Repanshek file
Campfires have been part of camping in the National Park System forever, most likely. There certainly were campfires in the area we now know as Yellowstone National Park before it was a park. But is the smoke from campfires good for you?
Smoke from one small campfire probably isn't terrible for you, unless you sit immediately downwind of the flames. But, what about those campgrounds with dozens and dozens of campsites, each one with its own fire ring?
During a recent stay at the Fruita Campground in Capitol Reef National Park many of those fire rings got used. When the sun went down, the dancing flames, and their choking smoke, went up. For the next five or six hours the smoke swirled and blew and at times downright stunk (especially when people doused the flames with water; a good thing, but the smell is not so good.)
Being directly downwind of two of those campsites with campfires, we ate, smelled, and suffered through a lot of smoke during our two nights there. Not fun. And when the winds kicked up with gusts that seemed to reach 25-35 mph, I worried about flying sparks melting holes in our tent, or even setting a real wildfire.
Recently there have been stories in the news about the pollutants carried in the smoke from last year's wildfires in the West. One just came out last week from the University of California at Berkeley, and said:
Wildfire smoke can trigger a host of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, ranging from a runny nose and cough to a potentially life-threatening heart attack or stroke. A new study suggests that the dangers posed by wildfire smoke may also extend to the largest organ in the human body and our first line of defense against outside threat: the skin.
“Existing research on air pollution and health outcomes has focused primarily on cardiac and respiratory health outcomes, and understandably so. But there is a gap in the research connecting air pollution and skin health,” said study lead author Raj Fadadu, a student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program. “Skin is the largest organ of the human body, and it’s in constant interaction with the external environment. So, it makes sense that changes in the external environment, such as increases or decreases in air pollution, could affect our skin health.”
Other studies have pointed out the bad health effects wood smoke causes on youngsters' respiratory systems, raised questions about the health impacts of bacteria and fungi carried into the air smoke from fires, and claimed wood smoke is worse for you than your car's exhaust.
Now, imagine if your lungs are comprised for some reason, or you have heart issues, or both. Do you pitch your tent or park your RV in a campground where you might fall to sleep with dozens, or possibly more than 100, campfires flickering outside your thin tent walls or RV? Sure, it's not like a 10,000-acre wildfire bellowing smoke, but at times the campground smoke can hover in place.
We're searching for specific studies on the health effects of campground campfire smoke and will relay them if we find any, but in the meantime, what do you think about campfire smoke in national park campgrounds.
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Comments
Classic answer. Thank you.
There is a time and place for everything. The time and place for campfires is in fire rings in established campgrounds. If you are so misanthropic and/or so fearful of the pereceived health effects, maybe going outside around other people is not for you. Maybe dispersed camping is for you. Generators and dogs and loud music are much bigger problems.
Campfires (not bonfires) are more than cultural. Campfires are used to teach new campers how to build a fire. They are used for cooking. They are used to keep campers warm. They bring campers and strangers together.
This whole subject has an eerily similar feel to someone telling me to get off their lawn. Hike your own hike. Don't ruin it for everyone.
Given the immense harm wood smoke causes both in terms of public health and the climate, I personally believe that campfires should be outlawed if cleaner practical alternatives exist. I can understand them if they are all that is available, but if there are cleaner options available then there really is no excuse for continuing their use.
Camping and campfires go together like nothing else. It seems that everything has been deemed to cause us harm. But most things that are enjoyable aren't good for you! The amount of smoke inhaled sitting around a campfire is nothing compared to what a firefighter breathes in. Life is too short to worry about the things that "could" do you harm.... grilling meat, drinking more than one drink per day, Etc. Camping and sitting around a fire are relaxing and enjoyable for all who do it. There are much more pressing concerns other than the effects of a little smoke inhalation in our lives. We shouldn't be concerned about the trivial while enjoying camping in the great outdoors in our beautiful National Park Campgrounds, or anywhere!
Clean air matters.
One campfire is probably smaller than one beach bonfire. In 2013, the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California measured the particulate matter from one beach fire. You can read the report of their studies on the attached link. Note slide 3 of their findings states that the particulate emissions rate from one... just one... beach fire is equivalent to that of the secondhand smoke of 800 cigarettes, or three 2013 fleet average diesel trucks. We otherwise know wood smoke is a source of hazardous air pollutants and contains many of the same toxic chemicals as tobacco smoke. https://www.aqmd.gov/docs/default-source/air-quality/special-monitoring-...
As a full-time RVer for 14 years, I've seen my share of bad campfire etiquette by campers, not to mention the danger they put everyone in by leaving fires unattended. This is a new time of climate change, and we must adapt or perish. It astounds me that wood burning campfires are even allowed in most places throughout summer, during an age when our forests are starved for moisture and can go up in flames in a heartbeat. What's it going to take for this insanity to stop? I prefer not to burn up in a forest because of some idiot's campfire. I wish officials would ban anything but a propane set-up.
If you don't like campfires then maybe camping isn't for you.
Stay in a hotel or stay home.