How far should a tent be from a campfire?

At least 15 feet (4.6 metres) from the edge of the fire to the nearest wall of the tent, with the tent upwind of the fire. That is the figure the USDA Forest Service's Smokey Bear programme, Recreation.gov and the Nebraska Forest Service all give for camping. The 25 foot (7.6 metre) figure you will also see comes from fire codes and tip sheets written for fires near buildings, and is worth honouring where there is room.

Fifteen, twenty or twenty-five feet: which number is right?#

All three trace to a real source, answering slightly different questions.

Read the table by the second column. The 15 foot sources are written for campsites and name tents. The 25 foot sources are written for fires near buildings: the International Fire Code (IFC) defines a recreational fire as one 3 feet or less across and 2 feet or less high, for "pleasure, religious, ceremonial, cooking, warmth or similar purposes", and keeps it 25 feet from "a structure or combustible material". A tent is combustible material, so where your town has adopted that section, 25 feet is the legal distance for a garden fire with a tent nearby.

At a campground the operator's or land manager's rule governs. Our recommendation: 15 feet (4.6 m) as the minimum from the edge of the fire to any tent wall, 25 feet (7.6 m) when the site allows it. We found no separate source behind the 20 foot figure.

Measured from where to where?#

Measure from the outer edge of the fire ring, since coals sit against its inside wall, to the nearest flammable part of the camp. That is rarely the tent door:

• The fly, not the inner. It is closer, and it is what a spark lands on.
• Porches and tarps count. The IFC wording covers any combustible material.
• Firewood and gear count. Smokey Bear and Recreation.gov list flammables in the same sentence as tents.

With a fixed ring, the tent is what moves. Find the ring first, then handle drainage and slope in the space left, as pitching and site selection describes.

Upwind or downwind: which way round?#

The tent goes upwind of the fire, which means the fire is downwind of the tent: the same instruction phrased from opposite ends. Recreation.gov says to choose a spot for the campfire "that is downwind from your tent and gear", and the Nebraska Forest Service says "place campfire downwind from your tent". Some pages state the same rule as "keep your tent upwind" of the fire pit.

The test is simple: wind carries smoke and sparks from the fire to whatever is downwind of it. Stand at the fire and face the way the smoke drifts. The tent should be behind you. If the wind swings round during the evening and the smoke starts reaching the tent, let the fire burn down rather than feeding it.

Why 15 feet is not about heat#

It is natural to assume the distance rule is about the tent wall cooking. The arithmetic says otherwise.

The same handbook gives direct sunlight as about 1 kW/m2, and lists cloth as igniting without a pilot flame within 30 seconds at 35 kW/m2 of radiant flux. In the model even the 60 kW fire puts under a quarter of that on a surface half a metre away.

Turn it round. To put 10 kW/m2 on a tent wall 4.6 metres away, the model needs a fire of about 6,600 kW. NUREG-1805 gives 7 MW for wood pallets stacked 3 metres high and burning. A campfire is two orders of magnitude smaller, and at 15 feet, or even 10, a tent wall gets less radiant heat from it than from the sun.

So the gap is buying something else, and the sources say what. Smokey Bear tells you to call 911 "if embers fly outside of the fire". The IFC requires that "conditions which could cause a fire to spread within 25 feet of a structure shall be eliminated prior to ignition". The Pathfinder material warns that sparks landing on a tent "at best... will burn a little pinhole in it". The distance is for embers, for fire creeping through dry ground cover, for a log that rolls, and for people moving around a fire in the dark.

A tent sold as flame resistant does not shorten the distance either. The scope of ASTM F3431, the test behind current CPAI-84 tents, says it "does not by itself incorporate all factors required for fire hazard or fire risk assessment", as our page on the CPAI-84 warning explains.

Rules outside the US#

Elsewhere the rules regulate the fire and its cleared ground, and leave tent spacing to campsite licensing.

Victoria's 3 metres is the radius of ground that must hold nothing that can burn, tents included, so a tent can be no closer than 3 metres, and the US guidance asks for half as much again. The Victoria wind limit is worth borrowing anywhere: "If leaves are moving around in the wind, do not light a fire."

The UK figures are spacing between tents. A fire in the middle of a 6 metre gap is only 3 metres from each neighbour, the Victorian minimum and well short of 15 feet.

Overhead: tarps, branches and the porch roof#

Smokey Bear asks for "vertical clearance at least 3 times the height of the flames". A fire with 60 cm flames needs 1.8 metres of open air above it, and low branches are named alongside tents.

The usual failure is a rain tarp rigged over the fire so people can sit round it dry. A tarp is coated nylon or polyester, and hot gas and sparks rise. Put the fire at least 15 feet from the tarp's nearest edge, or accept a wet evening and an earlier night. The tarp layout in camp comfort and furniture is for a cooking and sitting area, not a fire under the roof.

Check your pitch in five minutes#

1. Find the fire first. With no ring, check a fire is allowed at all.
2. Measure 4.6 metres once. Use a tape measure or a guy line of known length, from the outer edge of the ring. Pacing works if you have counted your steps against a tape at home.
3. Read the wind. Hold up a strip of tissue and see which way the air moves. The tent goes on the side the air is coming from.
4. Look up. Branches, tarp lines and the porch roof all need three times the flame height above the ring.
5. Clear the ground. Scrape back leaves, needles and dry grass: at least 5 feet (1.5 m) of bare soil around the fire in Nebraska's guidance, a 10 foot (3 m) cleared diameter in Smokey Bear's and Recreation.gov's.
6. Check the wind again before lighting. If leaves are moving, the CFA's test says do not light.

Common mistakes#

Measuring from the tent door. The nearest flammable part is the fly or the porch, and sparks do not use the door.

Stacking firewood or gear between the fire and the tent. Every combustible item in the gap shortens it.

Taking the fire size from the ring rather than the fuel. A metal ring 1 metre across does not cap the fire. The IFC's 3 foot by 2 foot limit and the CFA's 1 metre square are both limits on the fire itself.

Leaving it burning while everyone goes to bed. NFPA says to attend the fire at all times. A campfire left alone for a few minutes, in its words, "can grow into a damaging fire". Drown, stir and feel for heat before the tent zips shut. NFPA also says to watch children and never let them play or stand too close; the rest of a family routine is in camping with young children.

Treating a stove or heater as a small campfire. A stove in a porch is a different problem: carbon monoxide, not embers. That is covered in camp stove types and, for heaters, in the propane heater in a tent page.

Frequently asked questions#

How far should a tent be from a campfire?#

At least 15 feet (4.6 metres), from the outer edge of the fire ring to the nearest part of the tent, usually the fly or porch. Smokey Bear, Recreation.gov and the Nebraska Forest Service all give that figure for camping. Fire codes for property use 25 feet (7.6 metres), a better target where the site has room.

Is it 15 feet or 25 feet from a fire pit?#

Both are real. 15 feet is the camping guidance from US forest and recreation bodies, naming tents directly. 25 feet is the International Fire Code limit for recreational fires near a structure or combustible material, repeated in NFPA's campfire tip sheet. In a garden or anywhere your local fire code applies, 25 feet is the legal minimum. At a campground, 15 feet is the stated guidance.

Should my tent be upwind or downwind of the campfire?#

Upwind, which puts the fire downwind of the tent. Recreation.gov and the Nebraska Forest Service say to place the fire downwind of your tent; other pages say to keep the tent upwind of the fire. Same rule. Smoke and sparks travel with the wind, so face the way the smoke drifts and keep the tent behind you.

How far should a campfire be from a tarp?#

Treat a tarp exactly like a tent wall: at least 15 feet (4.6 metres) from the fire's edge, horizontally. Smokey Bear also asks for overhead clearance of at least three times the flame height, 1.8 metres of open air above a fire with 60 cm flames. A tarp is coated fabric and sparks rise, so do not rig one over the fire at all.

Can the heat from a campfire melt a tent?#

Not from 15 feet. In our point source model a large 60 kW campfire puts about 0.09 kW/m2 of radiant heat on a surface 4.6 metres away, under a tenth of direct sunlight. Tent damage near fires comes from sparks and embers landing on the fabric and from fabric within a metre or two of the flames, which is where radiant heat climbs past sunlight.

Does a flame retardant tent mean I can pitch closer to the fire?#

No. Flame resistance is a laboratory test result, not fireproofing, and the scope of ASTM F3431, the test behind current CPAI-84 tents, says it does not by itself cover fire hazard or fire risk under real conditions. Sparks and embers are what the distance protects against. Keep the same 15 feet (4.6 metres) whatever the label says.