How to have a fire in your backyard without having your backyard on fire.
Step 1
Check with your local authorities (city, county) first before lighting a fire. It may be illegal.
Step 2
Be kind to your neighbors. They may not appreciate the smoke from your fire.
Step 3
Select a spot for your firepit. Choose a place that has room to walk around the fire, away from plants or fences etc. that could be fire hazards. Pick a spot that will have plenty of room to sit around the fire without being too close. Also, be aware of the wind in your backyard and which way it will blow smoke from the fire.
Step 4
Once you have chosen your spot, dig a circular hole, 4 feet in diameter and 6 inches deep.
Step 5
Take some of the loose dirt and build a flat circular "shelf" in the center of the pit, roughly 2 feet in diameter and about 3 inches tall. Pack all the dirt down very tightly, do NOT pile dirt around the edge of the pit.
Step 6
Using cement bricks (not rocks, they could have water pockets inside that can explode when heated), stack a 1 foot high wall around the edge of the pit, leaving about 2 inches between the bricks for air.
Step 7
Lay down some Quik-Sand, the quick setting type. Make it in the bottom of the pit after you are completed digging it. This will help a lot, and if you want, leave a small "dip" in the middle of the concrete, to set newspaper in to start the fire.
Step 8
When building the fire, lay scrunched newspaper in the middle on the flat "shelf", build a tepee from kindling around the newspaper, also on the shelf, and light.
Step 9
When the kindling gets going, start placing bigger pieces of wood around the shelf in a tepee shape but with the ends in the "moat" around the "shelf".
