Do you cook in your tent or awning?

[millimat]

Whilst away this year I witnessed a very easy mistake. A family in another tent were cooking inside out. One tiny flame dropped to the ground and despite having a fire blanket ready, the tent burst into flames. It happened very, very quickly and within a minute the whole tent was gone.
Luckily there were fire extinguishers very close, plus other campers got ones from their cars as well. It was handled brilliantly and no one got hurt. It was extinguished before spreading to the next tent. However, very little of their gear was saved - a horrible end to a holiday.
Please don't let this happen to you.

[thecampstove]

You Could Get Your Tent on Fire.

When you make use of your stove inside your tent, this is really a 50/50 game, you can cook safely with no problem, and as well you can set your tent ablaze, and this may cause severe damage. As well, this could be life threatening or cause a burnt or serious injury. Although for most camp tents today, they are been treated with fire retardants, meaning if lucky you have such a tent, there are chances that if set ablaze, they burnt slowly and allow easily spread of flames. For this reason, it’s not advisable to use your camping stove under your camp tent... more on thecampstove.com/can-you-use-a-camping-stove-inside-a-tent/

[lavendersun]

As did I just, and I carried on, probably with a bit more thought to what could go wrong.

I have always stuck to canvas tents - apart from one that we used for one trip and sold it as it wasn't for us (backpacking tents aside).

The way we camp has changed so much, but I still camp the way we did when I was a little girl. The risks haven't increased, well I do think that the risks must be greater with the suitcase type stoves and pressurised gas without a regulator.

Common sense and a bit of forethought is the key.

[justwondering72]

I grew up watching my mum cook inside our family tent on camping holidays, and, until reading this thread, I'd never questioned doing so! Our tent is big, steel poles and very airy but we don't have an awning to cook under, so it's either inside or out. We also camp with a Conway camper, and cook in the awning, but it's usually gazebo style. I'll definitely be reviewing this, and adding a couple of knives / fire buckets to our packing after reading this,

[Blu]

Our tent also has fibreglass poles, so tends to bend and flex in wind: I wouldn't be happy with a table or cooking stand against a tent wall. But steel poles are different.

Different risks for different circumstances.

[Lancelottie]

I do cook inside, yes, in our vast and usually soaking wet cotton canvas tent, with a fire bucket handy (campsite rules).

I wouldn't want to try it in a nylon one and am resigned to crouching outside the tent in a gale when we try to camp 'light'.

[millimat]

I've changed my views too profpoopsnagle. Was very relieved when DH filled 2 huge tubs of water and left them by our awning after the fire had been put out.
Now just need to replace the fire extinguisher!!

[lavendersun]

- we don't always cook inside I have to add, under a tarp or the vario on the other tent generally - cooked inside a lot in Scotland recently as the weather was awful. Wet, windy and cold. We love having the option though as we do camp in Yorkshire and north of there a lot.

We are camping at Christmas this year in the tent with the stove , long story (think we must be slightly mad but am sure it will be an adventure of some sort)!

I wouldn't do a fry up either - porridge and toast generally inside, risotto and tortillas are good, non messy and smelly. I like one pot things inside - only one thing to manage at a time.

I know about risks - sadly have got a four year post grad diploma from the IRM ... I am not a numpty with a flame thrower in a tent .

[Blu]

Oh, I agree, Lavender - and my outlook - not cooking in the tent - is very much based on having a modest sized polyester tent.

If I had a canvas tent I would probably take a different view...but to have a canvas tent, and especially a stove for it, I would need a different car, a different house (somewhere to dry a wet tent) etc etc.

Also, DS and I don't seem to feel the cold at all so even if I did have a canvas tent I would probably not have a stove in it. We sit out by the fire in most weathers, and cook on it too. It's mostly only my boiled kettle for morning coffee that the stove is used for.

Oh, and a bacon and egg Sunday fry-up. Which I certainly wouldn't do in the tent - grease and smell.

[lavendersun]

meant to say can be considered crazy by another.

[lavendersun]

Really Blu - I didn't read it. I don't tend to bother reading much to be honest as we know what works and what doesn't. We wouldn't be here if we didn't by now.

Even our other tent, whilst not a chimney design has three massive vents at ground level, made of cotton and we cook with the doors open.

I guess we all come at this from different directions, what is normal for one person can be crazy by another.

[Blu]

Bloody hell! So much for that advice from GoOutdoors -

[[http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-portable-gas-camping-heater-p142458 This gas heater is sold by GoOutdoors, in the Questions column GoOutdoors say it is not for in tents, but is an alternative to a campfire. . It says 'Do not use indoors' but many people would not count a tent as 'indoors'. And the very second review extols it's use inside a tent...ironically saying how it heated the tent when he was feeling unwell. Probably as a result of the bloody heater......

[lavendersun]

Is that for me titsy?

Thanks ever so but I have a tent designed for the job.

www.tentipi.com/safir

[Titsywoo]

www.gooutdoors.co.uk/blog/dangers-carbon-monoxide-camping/

[Blu]

I read an account of a woman injured when one of those stoves, with the pierced cannisters, blew up, and it does sound as if the horrendous fire that Milli and Prof saw was disastrous because of escaped gas rather than just a spark, though I am not confident that the 'fire retardant' status of a polyester tent gives any comfort.

I always keep a fire bucket by our camp fire - for the first time ever this summer, I saw the grass around our fire start to catch fire and spread. I used to go to bed and leave the embers of the fire burning - no more.

[lavendersun]

Not much could be worse in a tent than a pierced gas thing not attached properly could it really. Another reason I like using meths is that it isn't under pressure.

We have a bucket (probably needs more sand though tbh), an extinguisher that lives half buried in the bucket, either just inside if we are cooking/heating or outside if not, and a fire blanket.

If you buy an extinguisher then you need to keep an eye on the expiry date. The seals on them can weaken and allow the compressed gas to escape. It won't work without enough pressure.

We don't tend to camp at very structured places so the chances of an extinguisher being handy at a time of need is very slim.

What a shock it must have been.

[profpoopsnagle]

I witnessed the fire that millimat saw, and the aftermath and it has changed my mind a bit on things. I always knew that if a tent was on fire then the only thing you can do is to get out- you will not save the tent. But I was shocked at what was left- it was literally nothing.

We never used to cook in the tent (trekking style) but as we've got bigger, family tent we had started cooking in a porch. We now have a trailer tent and there is a dedicated cooking area but things can still go wrong. We have always made sure of ventilation and try t have a door open ready in case we need to get out.

DH said that the gas stove used in this case was a pierce-style one which he thinks is more dangerous than other styles. Of course all gas stoves/open flames and EHU units need to be used with care as any of these may cause a fire.

What I have learnt and will do in the future (and I would urge other campers to consider wherever you cook) -
*buy a fire bucket and fill it up to leave outside my tent. I have read that this is now mandatory for caravan club websites, and it's relatively cheap and easy to do.

*Know where there are extinguishers nearest to your tent. As millimat said all the campers rushed with their own extinguishers or grabbed the campsites. After the fire was out, another camper warned that the fire may reignite and asked anyone to grab further extinguishers to be ready but I hadn't a clue where to find one.

[lavendersun]

I have had a knife handy in a tent since my guide days - not sure if my group was run by mavericks but we were taught to keep a knife with us to escape a tent. But we had flames in tents then too believe it or not, 6-10 girls in a tent with a gas or hurricane lamp. DH's background means that he has always done the same.

I think that the way we camp these days is so different to how it was 40 years ago - people are now shocked at flames near tents whereas we didn't used to have a choice and for those that grew up with it it is quite normal.

We have taught DD about safety, she knows (at 9) how to move around in a tent with a fire in it, be that meths or otherwise. The main byproduct of burning meths is carbon dioxide, not monoxide.

We are even more careful with the wood burning stove on the go, partly because of the sheer size of the thing.

Appreciate that it is not 'normal' for most people these days though and so it shouldn't be in a synthetic tent with a SIG.

[Blu]

I don't cook in the tent. Sloping polyester walls, an uneven ground surface , things to trip over, excited kids... I could imagine cooking on a small stove on a broad stable table in the centre of a tent as long as there were no kids around and everyone had a means of escape away from or between between them and the stove.

DS and I always sleep with an open knife by our pillows in case of fire!

I would be happier to cook in a cotton / canvas tent, and we do cook under a tarp, away from the tent, in heavy rain.

But most of our cooking is over the fire anyway, so it's out in the rain or bust!

[TiggyD]

I use a canopy thing just outside the door. I've got a tub style sleeping compartment. You can easily imagine all the heavy gas getting trapped in it.

[HettyD]

We always cook away from the tent -under a brolley if necessary, never seen the point of risking the health of the family and our tent/belongings...although a really rainy evening I feel is best viewed from inside a pub!!

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I dont think porches are any safer apart from the person cooking in the porch I guess can escape quicker than from a tent (if the door was shut). If a porch goes up in flames the tent will be seconds behind.....so anyone still in the tent will be in danger.

I do know someone who was asleep in the bedroom compartment when his mate who was cooking in the porch set the whole thing on fire. Bloke didn't have time to get out his sleeping bag and unzip the bedroom door.....thankfully he had a pocket knife and slit a hole in the tent side and rolled out!

[Bellemere]

We bought a porch to go on our tent - is that not safe for cooking in? We just have a gas stove that uses canisters. The tent is nylon I assume - hi gear kalahari.

[millimat]

They were with other families and I think the campsite owner gave them one of the chalets which was luckily free for the night.Lots of belongings were ruined.

[poocatcherchampion]

What happened to their belongings? Where did they sleep that night?

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I've cooked in tents with gas stoves for years without problem. Stove is attended 100% of the time.

I refused to allow Dh to use gas hurricane lamps and he was very pissed off about this. He saw no problem with hanging a gas lamp from the ceiling of the Outwell tent while then baby dd slept in the bedroom compartment. I don't see the risk being worth it when there's perfectly good LED lamps.