To ensure your camping holiday goes smoothly, especially if it’s your first time in a tent, please be aware of the key fire safety issues:
- Allow at least 6m spacing between tents and caravans
- Never use fuel-burning devices (e.g. disposable barbecues, camping stoves, camping heaters, lanterns, and charcoal grills) inside a tent. See below for more information about Carbon Monoxide awareness
- Never use candles in or near a tent – torches are much safer
- Flammable liquids and Liquefied Petroleum Gas cylinders should be kept outside the tent
- Oil burning appliances are not recommended
- Cooking appliances should never be used in small tents
- Never light a candle or have any other kind of flame burning apparatus in or near to a tent
- Cook outside and away from the tent
- Don’t smoke inside the tent and keep any flammable material away from the cooking area
- Have an escape plan
Be carbon monoxide aware
Never use fuel-burning devices (e.g. disposable barbecues, camping stoves, camping heaters, lanterns, and charcoal grills) inside a tent.
Using these indoors can cause Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning.
They give off fumes for hours and hours after you have used them – levels high enough to result in CO poisoning.
To avoid hazardous CO exposures, fuel-burning equipment should never be used inside a tent, camper, or other enclosed shelter.
Fuel-burning equipment can include:
- camping stoves
- camping heaters
- lanterns
- charcoal grills
- disposable barbecues
Opening tent flaps, doors, or windows is insufficient to prevent build-up of CO concentrations from these devices.
Also, when using fuel-burning devices outdoors, the exhaust should not vent into enclosed shelters.