Why I Love (Safely) Using My Backyard Fire Pit

Over the last few weeks of stir-craziness, my backyard has been an oasis for me and my family. As summer approaches and our camping plans seem dashed, our backyard is the closest thing we’ll get to an out-of-the-house destination. And what’s made our backyard feel even more special is our wood-burning fire pit, which helps us feel like we’re breaking our ordinary routine (even if we’re safely at home). The tang of burning hardwood, the simplicity of watching smoke rise, the fun of passing a ukulele—our mowed lawn has become a welcome escape.

I’ve used a square Landmann Barrone fire pit for more than five years (it’s currently out of stock and possibly discontinued, though this Hampton Bay Tipton is very similar), and while it shows a little rust, and the plastic cover blew away in a storm, it’s held up pretty well. If I were to buy a new one, I’d pick a round fire pit like the one in our guide to throwing a backyard party, but alas, that one is also out of stock right now. Most of the fire pits you’ll see for sale online or in hardware stores are made of steel, iron, or copper. The heavier duty, the better, because eventually it will begin to corrode. They’re simple affairs with few decorations—it’s going to get filthy with ash and soot anyway, and in the dark, all you’ll see is the fire.

I’ve been building campfires since I was a kid, but each time I light the fire pit is as exciting as the first. Will it or won’t it catch? We’ve all seen movies or TV shows with bumbling dads pouring a whole can of lighter fluid on a campfire, resulting in a whoosh of flame that would burn the eyebrows off a giraffe. I didn’t want to be that person. I’ll start with a pile of dry wood kindling over something that’s easy to light. Wax-based commercial firestarters can work, but I just use old cardboard egg cartons (I save them all year). They burn longer than newspaper, allow air to move through more easily, and don’t make as much floating ash. Fatwood kindling can also help get your fire going faster, but I usually just pull kindling-sized twigs from my yard-waste pile.

Any seasoned hardwood will make good fuel for fire. In the summer, you can usually find bundles of wood for sale outside grocery and hardware stores. Local landscapers in my area often sell stacks from their front yards. And, of course, that maple tree you cut down last year is also fine. If wood is hard to find, artificial firelogs made mostly of wax and sawdust can be used safely outdoors. They don’t put out the warm camping smell of wood and aren’t safe to roast marshmallows over, but they’re easy to use and produce little ash.

Speaking of marshmallows, I got myself some roasting sticks, which are easier than whittling my own and have made for some satisfying (if messy) s’mores-filled evenings. My fire pit came with a 12-inch steel-lid tool, which helps when lifting the hot cover or moving a burning log around. It’s sufficient, but I prefer the larger poker from my indoor fireplace because it has a hook I can use for lifting the lid. I use the brush, shovel, and tongs from my indoor fireplace for the outdoor pit, but a complete set of tools would be good to have around if you need them. I also like to have heavy-duty work gloves available for handling the wood, as a splinter in the palm tends to ruin the evening. An out-of-control fire can be a buzzkill too, so to put out stray sparks and extinguish the fire at the end of the evening, I keep a watering can within reach.

If you’re thinking of getting a fire pit, here’s a pro tip: Put it at least 10 feet from your house and anything else flammable, including sheds, wood decks, swing sets, or shrubbery. And don’t even think about just sticking it on the lawn, unless you want to burn the grass underneath. While my concrete patio is 10 feet deep, that still felt too close to the house for me, so I made a permanent platform with some large patio pavers farther out in the yard. The pavers are low enough to not interfere with the lawn mower, and the placement makes it easy to arrange seats all around the pit.

Of course, you’re going to need someplace to sit. I prefer lightweight folding camp chairs because they’re easy to move when the smoke changes direction. I also discovered the hard way that the cushions on your good patio furniture could suffer little singe holes from stray sparks, so keep that in mind. If you really want to get that camping feel, just spread out an old blanket (or a nice new one) on the ground.

Though I’ve had the fire pit for five years, it’s become especially important these last few months as we’ve all spent more time at home. My 20-something daughters recently moved back in, and one of our favorite weekend pastimes is to gather around the backyard fire pit and pass around an acoustic guitar, ukulele, or harmonica (or all three). The family has had some great jam sessions around the fire, and the neighbors have’t complained yet.