Spending time with family, friends, and loved ones while a warm fire is burning in a backyard fireplace can be truly idyllic. Roasting marshmallows and sharing quality time together are some of the big reasons why people enjoy campfires and outdoor fireplaces. If your home includes an outdoor fireplace or a fire pit, here are some essential guidelines to follow to help ensure safety.

Stay Away From Structures and Combustibles

It is very important to safely locate the fireplace away from your home or other structures. According to Install It Direct, outdoor fireplaces should have at least 10 feet between them and any outdoor structures. You also should trim any tree branches, brush, or tall grass that might be growing near the backyard fireplace. You also need to keep gasoline, starter fluid, and other combustibles well away from the fireplace to prevent accidental fires.

Use a Fire Screen

Whether you are using a fireplace or a fire pit, you need to control the hot ashes and burning embers that open fires usually produce. The best way to do that is with a fire screen that catches most of the hot ashes and embers that might escape when a piece of wood or another combustible item suddenly pops. The wind might pick up and carry hot ash or a burning ember into the nearby grass or brush and cause it to catch fire. A fire screen can contain those hot ashes and embers and prevent wildfires or structural fires.

Keep Safety Equipment Nearby

Whether you are indoors or outdoors, a fire requires safety precautions. Those precautions should include a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water so that you can put out any accidental spreading of the fire that might occur. You also might keep a garden hose nearby that will help to put out any rapidly spreading fires that might suddenly flare up.

Douse the Fire When Done

It is very important to make sure your backyard fireplace has nothing burning or smoldering when you are done. Dousing the fire pit with some water and stirring it with a poker will help to put out any hot ashes or embers. If you were to just leave it alone, a breeze might cause some of the smoldering fire to relight and possibly carry into some nearby structure or dry vegetation and spark a serious fire that requires a response from the local fire department.

You can call or visit our storefront to learn more about backyard fireplaces and their safe use at FireMaster Inc.