[pct-l] So there I was... staring into a PCTA Contact us *Message dialog box

[marmot marmot]

This Long distance hiker is responsible for one scorch ring on the floor of the AT shelter just north of the Mahoosec notch(Stover creek?). That was when I was just learning. Tired, dragging in with an overfilled pack, I put too much fuel in my commercial alcohol stove and thankfully did not burn down the shelter.  I blew it badly and only having a bit of luck didn't have an even worse result. 
A good number of new hikers (on every trail)are having trouble even putting up their tents. There is a reason for the multiple stove and fire bans---which change all the time.
If one can't put up a tent(tarp), it falls on you or blows away. Not packing enough food means you get hungry.  
An improperly used stove or a campfire can burn down thousands of acres of brush and forest. That could kill people and will kill animals. The mud slides after a fire can kill even more. The forest can burn so hot that it collapses the trail--threatening hikers and horse packers. 
It has been shocking to see the burns on the trail. Where there where lovely trees to rest under ,out  of the sun, I see low ground cover and stumps. I didn't do the trail in the early years. I can only see what has happened from 1994 to the my last time out there in 2015. 
I hope that the class of 2018 does not add to the problem
Marmot

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 14, 2018, at 10:57 AM, "ned at mountaineducation.org" <ned at mountaineducation.org> wrote:
> 
> Starting about 8-10 years ago, I began noticing scorch rings, sometimes multiple ones, on the wooden table tops in campgrounds along the PCT. Since I don't visit many in SoCal, it must have been in Inyo's Horseshoe Meadow, Cottonwood Pass TH to the PCT. Those were the days where the UL philosophy was taking root and everyone was talking about how light alcohol stoves were and little about how you can't see their flames. I don't know if that is still a concern these days, but I wondered if all those small, perfectly circular burnt rings were caused by thru hikers?
> 
> Ned Tibbits, Director
> Mountain Education, Inc.
> ned at mountaineducation.org 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pct-L [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Laurie Hallum
> Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2018 6:18 AM
> To: Gary Schenk <gary_schenk at verizon.net>; pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] So there I was... staring into a PCTA Contact us *Message dialog box
> 
>     I have seen two fires started from the stove with a pump-up canister and little dish of fuel below the fire.  The two backpackers were different people on two different hikes.  Fortunately they were small fires and put out quickly.  I'll stick with my Jet Boil.  Lady Pegasus 
> 
>    On Saturday, January 13, 2018 5:03 PM, Gary Schenk <gary_schenk at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Drew Smith <jdrewsmith at gmail.com>
> Cc: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Fri, Jan 12, 2018 1:05 pm
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] So there I was... staring into a PCTA Contact us *Message dialog box
> 
> Query: are there ANY data (not anecdotes about spilling cat food can
> stoves) which indicate that alcohol stoves are more likely to start a wildfire than other kinds of stoves? White gas stoves, with their priming pans, high pressure and many potential leak points, have always seemed to me to be far more dangerous.
> ******************************************************************
> https://www.postholer.com/faq.php#Fire%20safety
> 
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