Fire Safety

From a fire safety point-of-view, my home is a small, flammable space with open flames everywhere. The tent itself is only 12' x 14', and in it I have a double-bed, a kitchen area, a bathing area, a toilet, two chairs, some small shelves and tables, and at this time of year, a wood stove. It's packed pretty tight, and even though the canvas has been treated for fire resistance, I'm still surround by a lot of flammable material.

I light with oil lamps and candles, cook with propane, and heat with propane and wood, so there are always open flames about. And it being a small, crowded space, the likelihood for accidents increases. One false move, and an oil lamp falls to the floor or the propane heater gets knocked over. Or worse, a failure of the tent frame, a fallen limb, or an accidental bump could dislodge the stove pipe from the wood stove leading to thick smoke and open flames within the tent.

So here are my fire safety tips for tent living:

1. Don't live in a tent! It's dangerous!

Okay, if you ignore that rule (like I do), then at least:

1. Install a carbon monoxide detector. This is a must! Carbon monoxide accumulates quickly in a small space like a tent. My CO detector goes off routinely, so it has probably already saved my life.
2. Install a smoke detector. This is more for peace-of-mind, for example, when I leave my wood stove burning through the night. But my smoke detector has also alerted me to sooty wicks and slight obstructions in the stove pipe.
3. Keep a fire extinguisher handy. Fortunately, I haven't had to use mine yet, but I've had some pretty close calls when I've almost pulled it out.
4. Prevention. Arrange your space so as to minimize accidents. For example, place oil lamps on stable surfaces out of the main traffic flow, and avoid setups where you have to reach over an open flame to retrieve objects.
5. Have a fire plan. This is perhaps the most important. Imagine everything that could go wrong, and plan your response ahead of time. For example, what would you do if a tree limb ripped off the stove pipe and knocked over the wood stove? Or an oil lamp fell to the floor and broke? Or you smelled propane? Or your hair or clothes caught fire? And so on.

Please think about these things, be safe, and enjoy the thrill of tent living!