Thank you very much for posting this great advice for everyone. I worked for key camp about 8 years ago and at staff training we were told to sleep with a knife next to your bed incase of fire.
So have planned to take one, along with a fire extinguisher and a bucket my husband thinks i worry to much am going to show him this to read.
when i went camping on my own at the age of 18 i wish i had a knife handy in the tent the truth is i hate spending money was to mean to buy a lantern battery so used candles in jars for lighting my gran gave me them as she had loads in house anyway had a bad stomach that night and had to get out of tent quickley forgot to blow candles out must have nocked them over on was out came back from toilet block was 10 mins in there campers milling about evreywhere then i saw my tent had burnt down just a metel frame standing luckley nothing valuble inside the warden asked if there was anyone in with me there wasent luckley any way called my parents from site office came and picked me up after id cleared remains of tent up losta nights sleep luckey thats all i lost apart from my old tent a lesson learnt the hard way experience is a hard teacher it gives the test 1st and the lesson after.didnt relise how quickley a tent can burn after this episode i never smoke or cook in my tent i use a car battery for my tv and a car inspection light saves on batterys as this lasts longer and much safer
thanks for this thread Val. I'd not thought of having a knife in the tent with us before. Not entirely sure it's safe with my kids though! will have to investigate hanging one high up
I'd just like to add my thanks Val. I'd not thought of having a knife in the tent either. Will definitely be investing in both a fire bucket and fire blanket for the camping kit and running through a fire drill with my kids when we go camping next week.
------------- Gilyan.
Lead me not into temptation - I can find the way all by myself!
thanks for that, we took my friend on our last trip and she said where is the knife as she was going to bed, i looked at her daft, she said in case of fire, i never thought of that, i do keep a bucket of water by the tent but no knife, guess what the 1st thing i brought, you guessed it a knife.
Just another add on! We were at the south of france last week and at first site used the BBQ no problems. Next site - assumed we could as well as were not told not to. OH sitting cooking burgers well away from tent first evening - guard with dog and belt load of weapons!!! came over and demanded he put it out immediately. Sun was in OH's eyes and he said "what" - guard threatened with police if he didn't immediately put it out. I was never so glad to see a large bottle of water beside the BBQ which he used to extinguish the flames. Don't have a problem with not BBQ sites BUT would have been less humiliating to have been told first. However, don't think that the controlled situation of BBQ will start majority of forest fires but the thoughtless disposal of ciggies. Next thing which just occured to me is that if you are strapped for room, which we are on hols, the huge bottles of water in supermarkets could be cut down leaving a strap over the top to resemble a bucket and they could be bought first shopping at site and then thrown away. Wish I'd thought of this before!
I reakon for those with young kids and are worried about the knife. Use the safety pin idea. Just use a very small safety pin that is not very strong those gold coloured ones you get in sewing kits would do. Hang it high out of little ones reach. In an emergency pull hard may rip the inner tent/pod but if you are going to cut it anyhow that really does not matter.
Have just come back from camping trip where luckily I cooked outside all the time as my single burner cooker caught fire. The aerosol type gas cylinder was leaking so when I lit the stove the cooker caught fire. If I had been in the tent that would have been it. Luckily we managed to put the fire out quickly but I did have the fire extinguisher by the tent door. We were told later that there had been three tent fires on the site the previous week.