How to Have a Bonfire at Home

Inform your neighbors of your plans for hosting a bonfire at your home. Include the date and time you will be having the bonfire; it is best to plan it for a time when the smoke and heat from the bonfire is unlikely to impact individuals who live near you.

Choose a location in your backyard to build the bonfire. Bonfires should be situated far away from buildings, trees, telephone wires, fences, sheds and the like.

Use a shovel to dig a shallow pit several feet larger than you want the bonfire to be. Line the outside of the pit with bricks to prevent the fire from spreading.

Place a pile of tinder, such as twigs and dry leaves, in the center of the bonfire pit. Surround the tinder with a "teepee" of kindling; stand a number of dry sticks up to form a triangle around the tinder. Gaps in the teepee are fine, as this lets oxygen through.

Place dry, medium-sized sticks around the kindling to form a square. Using these sticks as a base, build a structure around the kindling by adding sticks on top until the square is five layers high.

Lay a log on top of the four sides of the structure you built in Step 5. Fill the logs and sticks in with more kindling.

Light a match and drop it into the center of the tinder you laid out in Step 4. Add more wood as the bonfire burns.

Store a bucket of water close to the bonfire in case of emergency.

Put the bonfire out by pouring water on top of it and adding a layer of dirt.