Campfire safety

A big part of a camping experience can be preparing your meals over the campfire.

While this can be a lot of fun, you should remember that fire can also be an enormous threat to people, property and the environment, particularly over the drier months of the year.

Every year, dangerous wildfires are caused by poor management of a camping or cooking fire.

Tips for safe cooking

Read the below tips when using a campfire to cook with.

Small fires

Small fires can be used to cook and boil water. You don't need a permit to burn.

You must contact Bushfires NT for a permit to light a fire for any other purpose.

Maximum penalty for lighting a fire without a permit is $77,000 or 5 years imprisonment.

Clear an area

Clear an area no less than 4m around your campfire. Remove any bush or flammable material

Maximum penalty for lighting a fire without clearing a 4m perimeter is $15,000.

Supervise

All campfires should be supervised by an adult. Fires are unpredictable so take care.

Put it out

Extinguish all campfires not in use. During a fire ban, fire is only allowed for cooking or boiling water.

Maximum penalty for failing to extinguish a small fire during a fire ban is $77,000 or 5 years imprisonment.

Resources

For a printable version, get the campfire safety factsheet PDF (465.0 KB).

You should also read about driving and bushfires.