Sven’s Summertime Safety: An American tradition

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Dave Watnemoe
  • 319th Air Base Wing Safety Office
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  There's nothing like the smell of a $5 bundle of firewood filling the air in base housing on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the summer months. Whether you're in your backyard or out in the woods camping, the tradition of sitting around a fire watching "cowboy cable TV" with friends or family, telling stories and having a sing along is as much an American tradition as baseball, apple pie and the 4th of July.

Extreme care must be used while having a fire to keep it from growing out of control. The most important thing to remember is that you should never use gasoline to start a fire; or worse, stoke it up once it's going.

Never try to have a fire that is too big for your fire-pit or ring. In other words, if you live on base and have a fire-bowl, do not try to burn pallets or full logs in it. I doubt your neighbors will share your enthusiasm for burning down the whole neighborhood -- unless of course they have renters insurance.

Another thing to remember is that fire is as irresistible to children as a bouncy castle is to adults. Youngsters love to get a poker stick in the fire until it gets that smoking ember on the end, at which time it comes out of the fire and becomes a sword, light saber or a yard fogger as they sprint around the back yard, weapon in hand.

Children should not be allowed to play with matches, and definitely not a campfire. If you do allow the kids to roast their own marshmallows, use caution. They tend to freak out if their marshmallows catch fire and may pull them out of the fire so quickly they fly off the stick and onto one of their siblings or parents. There's no bigger buzz kill than a flaming marshmallow to the forehead -- except for maybe your buddies failed attempt to re-enact the "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick" nursery rhyme.

Always have a garden hose or bucket of water readily available in case of an emergency or to put out the fire at the end of the night. When putting the fire out, you need to wet all of the coals by turning and stirring them while applying the water. If you only get the top coals wet, the bottom coals will heat them up and dry them out and restart your fire.

Be safe and enjoy your summertime fires because we all know it won't be long before it is too cold for even fire to burn.