fire rings Fire rings keep a campfire safe and enjoyable

By Gerald Dlubala

Campfires are a staple of a quality camping experience and commercial-grade fire rings are an essential part of any location that provides campfires.

When contained within fire rings, campfires are a safe, aesthetically pleasing and functional part of our time spent outdoors.

Here's why. According to The Bureau of Land Management, people cause 80% of forest fires.

A well-meaning campfire that got out of control contributed to 20% of those fires.

By installing and encouraging the use of fire rings, you can promote campfire safety by controlling the size and containment of the fire as well as making it safer and easier to extinguish the fire when needed.

When installed at campgrounds, multifamily housing complexes, or even in residential areas, fire rings increase the manageability of camp or bonfires, making for a more memorable and worry-free experience.

fire rings Selection of different fire ring

Camping grows as a preferred recreational activity

Camping is a continually growing recreational activity as children that camped with their families while they were young are now following suit as they get older, hitting the road to enjoy nature with families of their own.

Now ranked as the fourth most popular activity for Americans, studies estimate the number of annual campers to be 40 million, including 15 million young adults, aged 6 to 24.

With an average age of 32, they're not just going camping, they're spending on camping as well, to the tune of  $1.692 billion annually on related equipment.

The great outdoors is calling, and it's bringing some nice benefits with it. There's certainly a mark there for parks and private campgrounds.

The Benefits of Camping

  • Strengthens relationships. Quality time, shared experiences, and fewer distractions can all lead to developing stronger relationships and bonding for families, couples or groups of friends. Add in the teamwork needed to face challenges together and the increased face-to-face interaction and communication during increased down time, and a camping trip will turn into a regularly scheduled necessity for our busy lives.
  • Health benefits. Besides getting away from the daily grind and worries, camping and hiking combine aerobic activity, creative thinking, and relaxing sounds of nature in naturally calm surroundings to help relieve stress and encourage rejuvenating relaxation. The University of Alabama's Department of Anthropology references a study claiming that "fire with sound," campfires, "induces relaxation as part of an overall multisensory, absorptive, and social experience, naturally lowering blood pressure." While getting back to living by the natural light cycles, our biological clock is reset, helping to stabilize our sleep and waking patterns. Our amount of Vitamin D, a natural byproduct of being out in the sun, automatically increases. Additionally, simply spending more time outside has been widely reported to be beneficial for our overall mental health.
  • Increased physical activity. Camping leads to exploring, which means activity. Whether walking, hiking or biking, the additional activity provides health and mental benefits, improving mood and energy levels.
  • Increases basic childhood education and fights childhood obesity. A 2015 UK study provided evidence that camping had positive effects on children. They are introduced to new, and unfamiliar surroundings, allowing them to gain new thinking patterns, problem-solving and physical skills. With increased physical activity, they are keeping their bodies active and healthy, reducing sedentary time otherwise spent in front of technology. These are valuable lessons that will carry over, propelling them to become active, healthy adults

Fire rings have multiple uses

fire ring design Fire ring with elk design

Fire rings, providing the option for a campfire, are considered an amenity, and can make or break the decision on where to camp.

According to KOA campground reports, the classic wood-burning aroma of a campfire is considered one of the top recognized smells associated with camping.

With that type of expectation, as a park manager, you want to make sure that your campers are able to build and enjoy a bonfire or campfire. Made safe by your installation of quality fire rings in different varieties, sizes, and with useable additions, like cooking grates or potholders.

  • First and foremost, a campfire ring is for safety. As a park or campsite manager, you want to keep the fire, including the burning wood, embers and coals contained in a safe manner. With fire rings, up to 23-inch sides, the coals and wood stay within the ring, providing less chance of spreading or accidentally getting out of control. Being within a contained ring makes it easier to extinguish as well.
  • The smell of a campfire was reported to be second among the most recognized aromas of camping, and also the second favorite activity, behind hiking. A campfire is an activity, so when contained in a fire ring, it becomes a centerpiece, extending an invitation for all-around to gather and sit, watch and talk while in the presence of an ever-changing fire that pops, cracks and becomes the backdrop for your camping experience. Campfires allow you to stay outside longer, warming the entertaining area while providing a rustic ambiance to your gathering space. Nature lovers can enjoy the outdoors longer each day while sitting next to one of our most favorite, captivating elements contained in a fire ring.
  • Cooking functionality. With grill grates added, or cooking tripods positioned over the fire ring, that evening meal or fresh brewed morning coffee will be even better when cooked outside over a live wood fire. Snacks like s'mores, or simple lunches like hotdogs on a stick make cooking over a fire ring an interactive affair, providing younger campers a feeling of accomplishment by participating in or even cooking their own meals and snacks. Accessories like campfire pie irons can turn a dull, cold sandwich into a hot, cheesy, crusty, camping delicacy. Creative cooks and grill masters can experiment with small bites and combinations on kebabs. The aroma of freshly brewing coffee over a wood fire is intoxicating to coffee drinkers, signaling the start to another day spent among nature.

Look For Quality When Installing Fire Rings

Fire rings can be the perfect solution for bonfire or campfire containment. They are minimally intrusive, movable (and removable) while allowing the owners, residents, or visitors to enjoy all the benefits of a live fire. Add in a decorative, scenic inspired cutout around the ring, and the aesthetics of the fire are enhanced. Scenes depicting wildlife in various stages of action, such as a bear with cubs, fighting elk, or hunting scenes of dogs and ducks, or scenic versions featuring woodlands or prairie cattails, artistic fire rings offer a decorative as well as a functional element to your campfire. The beauty of the flames dancing behind the cutout scenery, causing shadows on any surrounding structures provides a relaxing atmosphere for those in attendance. When there is no fire, the ring provides a decorative, sculptural type yard ornament. Quality fire rings have characteristics conducive to the intended use:

campfire ring with cooking grate Campfire right with cooking grate

  • They're made of heavy-gauge steel, able to withstand repeated use by the public while providing excellent containment for the fire over long periods of time.
  • They have a durable, non-toxic enamel coating assuring that will be weather and rust-resistant while standing up to the high temperatures of the fire as well as the changing environmental conditions.
  • They will have adjustable, easy to use grills or flip grates for cooking, with enough cooking space to accommodate multiple cookers and family sized meals.
  • They are available in several different depths and widths to accommodate all users, including ADA accessible conditions.

There's no doubt that fire rings are crowd-pleasers, being equally functional and decorative.

They are easy to install, easy to maintain and clean, and will guarantee your visitors have a memorable, fun-filled camping trip that they will remember and talk about for years to come.

Treat your visitors to a camping experience that includes a quality, safe and great looking fire rings for their own campfire, because there's something about that campfire aroma that just can't be beat.

Note: The Park and Facilities Catalog has a full selection of commercial-grade fire rings for sale.