How NOT to start a campfire!

For Memorial Day, our family met up with some friends from Vegas in the great & very populated (not) town of Ely, Nevada! We went down Sunday morning & came back Monday afternoon since Matt had to work, (now there is a shocker!) While we had a great time & the kids had a blast, there is just one story that sticks out in our minds.


Just so you all know, we did stay at a KOA outside of town. That knowledge may help clarify this scene and story.

Sunday, after dinner a friend and I were going over to the little kitchenette, a sink & a mini stove, to wash dishes. After a few minutes of talking we noticed that there was a hissing sound in the background. Since I was drying the dishes, I glanced over my shoulder & saw a man trying to start some charcoal on fire. I also noticed that there was a camping size propane bottle sitting on the ground. I told myself there was NO way that guy had opened the propane bottle and just left it sitting on the ground. Apparently, he first tried to just throw the charcoal along with the bag into the raised fire pit & light it on fire. This didn't work! So next, he proceeded to take a match and light the HISSING propane tank! Can we say genius! The tank caught on fire, and he placed it in with the charcoal. About this time he realized that was going to work either, so he picked it up out of the fire pit and threw it on the ground trying to put it out! Again brilliance! He proceeded to stomp the bottle "out" and then went and placed it in the garbage can. Oh and don't forget that he put the garbage can lid on tight.

Meanwhile the can is still hissing & my friend goes to check out the garbage after the story was relayed to him. He got the can, opened the lid & just about died because it was full of propane & it was very fragrant. As we were all shaking our heads the man came back with a brand new bottle of lighter fluid! At this point, Matt was playing frisbee with all the kids between our campsite & his "cabin". The two moms started to get nervous that the kids were so close to danger, but we decided just to keep an eye on them and knew they were in good hands with Matt.

Anyway, this brilliant mastermind emptied the bottle of lighter fluid onto the charcoal. Lit a match & threw it in (see picture above). The flames were quite large, but shortly died down. Within five minutes, he was roasting marshmallows to make S'mores. Yumm...S'mores with all the lighter fluid on them. To make it worse, he offered some to all our kids...which we gracefully declined, and told the kids we would be doing our own soon!

I may not be a expert at starting a fire, but I do know that is NOT the way to start a fire, especially when you want to use charcoal.

When using charcoal, place the briquettes in the fire pit, light them, let them sit until they turn a grey color, then roast marshmallows! See it is easy!!! I just thought I would add the proper way, so if this moron falls upon my blog he can learn how not to blow himself and the rest of camp up!

This guy needed one more thing while trying to roast marshmallows.... "HERE's YOUR SIGN!"