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Originally Posted by ^v^Tinda wolf^v^
Not that it will stop me but I am curious as to what determines an open fire exactly ? One with a rock base ? Or you are now required the ring like in a campground ? Or no fire at all ? If it's no fire at all our government will have a great new cash cow with people gladly paying like cigarettes.
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My guess is the realization by legislators that the vast majority of 'campers' now are motorized-vehicle weekenders who leave black charcoal spots smoldering on the ground all over the place containing a few half-burned logs. Complete with camping remnants that could be washed down into lakes.
Obviously, on a limited and sparse scale, making a small fire for cooking/washing or even just for effect is no big deal if everything is burned down to ashes on a bed of rocks, then quenched. Especially if the next guy does the same thing on the same spot. But that's not how it seems to work anymore. It's both a load (numbers) problem due to overpopulation and a carelessness problem together. On top that of that, watching a 50-mile front of fire a hundred feet high burn down part of a city causes all sorts of legal hysterics.
Outside of overnight hiking/tent camping where the weight penalty of a stove might be prohibitive, especially if you're packing a rifle, in most cases I can't see where open fires have a whole lot of advantages over a small stove. Especially if you want to bring it inside a wall tent. If you've fallen into freezing water and need a lot of heat to dry out quick, that's a different problem - hopefully you don't do that very often.
A small [wood] stove with chimney concentrates heat and channels smoke way better, and lets you control the burn better. Hotter fires mean less smoke. Most European household cooking was done over open fires up until the 1700's, until population growth and squabbles over wood got ugly. Then masonry and iron stoves became widespread out of necessity.
I pretty much see the same thing happening here now. If you come in with any sort of motorized vehicle, the weight penalty of a well-designed small stove is benign. Shouldn't be much of a problem for a pack horse either.