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.

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!!

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'.

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.

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,

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.

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/