How to Build a Fire – Swiss Style

Before moving to Switzerland, we built fires on our yearly camping trip or perhaps a evening beach bonfire. In Switzerland, every outdoor activity has the potential of fire building, even kindergarten. So you need to be prepared even if you aren’t the”campfire” type. My purse essentials now include my Swiss army knife, a matchbox and fire starters, which come in handy even in the city.

This frequent fire building requires some skill, which I realized the first time I went hiking without my husband and naively thought building a fire was as easy as it looks. Let’s just say it’s a good thing bratwurst are already cooked when you buy them.

So here are some tips for fire building in Switzerland: rules for fire building, what to expect at Swiss fire pits, how to build a fire, what to cook, etc. Good luck!

See also What to Grill on the Trail – Swiss Style and A Swiss Guide to Hiking Food

Where can I build fires in Switzerland?

In general, you can build fires in nature almost anywhere unless otherwise posted. Just build a fire ring, collect some wood and light it up. See my post: 10 Pretty Places to Roast Marshmallows in Switzerland

However, if we have a long stretch of no rain, many areas will post “No Fire” signs. In some drier regions, like the Valais, fires are often forbidden, so look for signs and ask when buying your cable car ticket.

Official Fire Pits

Many trails and parks have official “Feuerstelle,” which typically means one or more fire pits with picnic tables. There is usually a wood pile, not always, usually with wood cut in different sizes do you have little stuff to start the fire and big stuff for three longer burn.

Many of these Feuerstelle are enclosed by a fence to keep out cows. Make sure to close the gate behind you. I’ve come across Feuerstelle full of cows and/or cow pies because someone left the gate open, not a nice place for a picnic.

Schweizer Familie sponsors fire pits all over Switzerland and their website gives a complete list of them with pictures and description. Their Feuerstellen are usually well maintained and well stocked with wood.

Most fire pits are maintained only in summer so if you go out of season you may find no wood, a dirty fire pit, or the picnic tables in disrepair.

What do the fire pits look like?

Most official Feuerstelle have fire rings with a grill and benches, maybe a picnic table. But there is wide variety and you should be prepared for anything. Some grills have adjustable height but other have a fixed height, which means you have build a tall fire to reach your food. Sometimes the fire pit has a grill that hangs over fire. Here are a few examples.

But don’t count on a grill. Some just have a fire pit. Be prepared to carve your own roasting sticks or bring your own.

What fire equipment do I need?

Here is my whole fire kit, not that much stuff, packs down pretty small as shown on the right.

Matches and/or lighter. I prefer matches because I can throw them into the fire instead of holding the lighter so close to the tinder. But we have sometimes used so many matches on semi-wet wood that we ran out. So bring a lighter as backup.

Fire starters. We prefer using natural fire starters, like these wood shavings dipped in wax. You can get them from most stores including Migros and Coop. It usually only takes 1-3 to get a fire going.

Kindling. We usually bring some newspaper to crumple under the wood and help get the fire going. Dryer lint is also quite effective, lightweight and compact. We also send the kids into the woods to collect little sticks. They like this chore.

Knife. Multipurpose for carving grill sticks, splitting bigger wood chunks into kindling, cutting food, etc.

(Optional) Wood or charcoal. We only bring wood when we know there is not an official Feuerstelle and we are hiking above the tree line, so we won’t be able to gather wood to burn. We also bring wood if it rained the day before because the wood piles might be too wet to burn. We typical buy the wood at a gas station, costs about CHF 12 for a big box of wood. Wood is heavy to carry, but you only have to carry it one way since you’ll burn it all at the fire.

Building the fire

For detailed fire building instructions, see Wikihow. Below is my shortened version.

1. First, if building a fire not on an official fire pit, make your own pit with a circle of rocks. This contains the fire and protects others from accidentally stepping on hot coals.

2. Lay some tinder in the middle. This can be your fire starters and some crumpled paper.

3. Put some kindling, aka thin sticks, around the tinder.

4. Build a classic fire structiure like the Teepee or Log Cabin above your fire base. The most important thing is not to smother your fire. Lay the wood down with plenty of air spaces between pieces. We typically start with a log cabin style then pile on more wood teepee style.

5. Light the fire starters and paper in the middle and hope the bigger stuff catches fire. You can fan the fire to help it burn faster.

6. Once you have a roaring fire, wait for it burn down to coals before cooking. The kids may be anxious to eat, but you should really wait until the fire dies down to coals before trying to cook your food. If you cook over open flame, it will just burn your food. Sometimes we send our fire builder up ahead on the trail, so they can start the fire a good 20 minutes before the hungry kids arrive.

7. After you are done, put out the fire. Separate the coals, stamp it out and pour water over it.

Troubleshooting your fire

Burns fast and dies fast. The wood is super dry or a type of wood that burns fast. You’ll have to just gather more or look for a different type of wood.

Wood doesn’t catch. Use small pieces of wood first, then gradually work your way up to larger pieces.

Wet wood. It won’t burn no matter what, go eat at the cafe.

Green wood. Do not pull or cut wood off living trees or bushes. It won’t burn, just smoke you out.

See also What to Grill on the Trail – Swiss Style and A Swiss Guide to Hiking Food