Campfire

Just because you are camping doesn't mean you have to do without classy cooking tools. The Alpine Deluxe Kitchen Kit, from MSR , includes a folding spatula, spoon and pot strainer-cheese grater, a sheathed, high-carbon stainless steel knife, a folding cutting board, a nonstick-pan-friendly pot scraper, moisture-resistant salt and pepper shakers, a bottle opener-corkscrew, two squeeze bottles for condiments and a highly absorbent, quick-drying towel....

Ricardo Brizuela tasted his first s'more this summer at a campfire at Vista Hermosa Natural Park. That wasn't surprising, as Ricardo is only 8 years old. But it was also a first for his mother, who is 39. Not once in her Lincoln Heights childhood did Silvia Brizuela's family barbecue or cook out, let alone roast a marshmallow. She was an apartment latchkey kid whose parents worked long hours as a sheet-metal installer and cook at a convalescent home. "My parents were worker bees," she said.

An abandoned campfire sparked a ferocious wind-whipped wildfire in Utah's Wasatch County that has killed two firefighters, gutted 18 homes and blackened 3,000 acres, investigators said. No suspects have been identified, but authorities said anyone responsible could be forced to pay the entire cost of suppressing the fire. Slightly cooler temperatures, with highs from 80 to 85 degrees, and reduced winds have helped firefighters gain the upper hand.

When Karin Hauenstein led her three horses down Vine Street, the girls in short skirts stilled their stiletto-heeled sashays, the incense hawkers stopped calling out to passersby, and Trader Joe's shoppers gaped through the glass at the convoy clip-clopping up the far right lane. Whether anyone registered more than surprise is hard to say. But on that recent afternoon, Hauenstein was making a statement. The 39-year-old horse trainer has come south from Santa Barbara County to protest the commercial slaughter of horses.

A campfire started a 1,430-acre blaze in the San Bernardino National Forest that has cost more than $1 million to fight, officials said. About 890 firefighters had the fire more than 80% contained, said Connie Relph of the U.S. Forest Service. Investigators determined that a campfire in the Lytle Creek area began the blaze Wednesday morning, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Michelle Beauregard. "It appears to be something that just got out of hand," she said.

A campfire lit by French soldiers on maneuvers in West Germany on Sunday set off World War II explosives still buried in the ground, killing one soldier and injuring 11, West German police said. The accident happened at Grissheim on the Rhine River near the Franco-German border, police in the nearby town of Freiburg said. A dozen soldiers from the French 16th Pioneer Regiment stationed in West Germany gathered around a campfire on the river bank early in the morning. Police said heat from the campfire apparently detonated munitions, possibly a mine or a grenade, buried in the ground since the war.

Ten people who built a campfire will not be charged with igniting a wildfire last fall that burned more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito, prosecutors said Friday. Because investigators could not prove who caused the wildfire, the group will be charged only with misdemeanor trespassing and unlawfully building and using a campfire without permission, said Dist. Atty. Christie Stanley. The misdemeanor counts carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail, up to a $1,000 fine and three to five years of probation.

In an effort to cut down on campfire smoke and to retain dead wood for insects and animals, officials in Yosemite National Park have banned wood gathering in Yosemite Valley. Acting park Supt. B. J. Griffin said campfires and charcoal barbecues will still be allowed in the valley--as long as visitors bring their own briquettes or dry firewood. He said firewood can also be purchased from the park concessionaire.

Some happy campers are bound to be outraged when they discover that Yosemite National Park officials have banned the collection of firewood from the Yosemite Valley floor. What is camping without a campfire? But the Park Service should be commended for its action, which does not, after all, mean an end to campfires in the valley. Campers still can bring their own wood--which many now do anyway--or buy bundles of firewood in the valley store, or use charcoal briquettes. But would-be Paul Bunyans still may wonder why they no longer are allowed to tramp off into the timber with their trusty axes to fulfill one of the age-old traditions of camp leaders.

I read "High Price of RV Trips" (Letters, Oct. 27) with amusement. A worthwhile RV can be found for $50,000, and well-equipped units (with air conditioner, microwave, TV) start in the $60,000s. Prices go up from there depending on how luxuriously one wishes to travel. An RV is hardly economical. It is, rather, a way of being able to experience a campfire in a rustic setting and have the luxury of your own comfy mini-condo. Of course, an RVer also can "camp" at a posh full-service resort.

Just because you are camping doesn't mean you have to do without classy cooking tools. The Alpine Deluxe Kitchen Kit, from MSR , includes a folding spatula, spoon and pot strainer-cheese grater, a sheathed, high-carbon stainless steel knife, a folding cutting board, a nonstick-pan-friendly pot scraper, moisture-resistant salt and pepper shakers, a bottle opener-corkscrew, two squeeze bottles for condiments and a highly absorbent, quick-drying towel....

For Ken Graydon, repairing cars was a living. But writing poetry and song lyrics and tall tales to be told and sung around a campfire was his passion. For anyone who thinks of poets as smallish, shy, intellectual fellows who look inward, Graydon was a shocker. He stood 6 feet 4 and, in his prime, weighed 220 pounds. His idea of a fine time was mixing with friends from the disparate worlds of poetry and classic cars, and swapping songs and stories long into the night. His voice was a strong baritone, and he was generous with praise for other versifiers.

For Neal Taylor, fishing wasn't limited to weekends or, for that matter, water. On one of Santa Barbara's busiest streets, the seven-time national casting champion showed a friend just how it's done, lofting his line into an intersection when the light turned red and yanking it back when traffic resumed. "I thought, this guy is really funny," said Bob Nunez, a dentist and one of Taylor's closest fishing buddies. "I thought, I love this guy. " Taylor died Tuesday at his Santa Barbara home.

Ten people who built a campfire will not be charged with igniting a wildfire last fall that burned more than 200 homes in Santa Barbara and neighboring Montecito, prosecutors said Friday. Because investigators could not prove who caused the wildfire, the group will be charged only with misdemeanor trespassing and unlawfully building and using a campfire without permission, said Dist. Atty. Christie Stanley. The misdemeanor counts carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail, up to a $1,000 fine and three to five years of probation.

In a world of brand extension and merchandise obsession, "American Idol" is king. Spearheaded by FremantleMedia, the company that owns the "Idol" trademark, there are the requisite T-shirts, journals, water bottles and CDs. There is also Dreyer's Choc 'N Roll Caramel "American Idol" ice cream, Karaoke Revolution's "Idol" video game and a new attraction at Disney World. Then they opened Idol Camp. Idol Camp is a two-week performing arts sleep-away gathering for aspiring singers, aged 10 to 15.

To Peymaneh Hatamsefat, the idea of summer camp would have been a concept lost in translation four years ago. After fleeing from Iran with her children, Hatamsefat was granted political asylum in the U.S. and found a new life in Los Angeles. "Three years ago, none of us could speak English," Hatamsefat said. "It was very scary for us -- it's just so different from here and back home."

A camper was burned near Julian by one of three North County fires that swept through brush and rugged terrain Monday, prompting the indefinite suspension of all backcountry burning in the county. California Department of Forestry officials declined to release the name of the injured camper, but said he suffered second-degree burns on his face and legs after apparently setting an illegal campfire off Banner Road near Julian. The campfire sparked a blaze about 7:45 a.m. that eventually consumed 500 acres.

Ricardo Brizuela tasted his first s'more this summer at a campfire at Vista Hermosa Natural Park. That wasn't surprising, as Ricardo is only 8 years old. But it was also a first for his mother, who is 39. Not once in her Lincoln Heights childhood did Silvia Brizuela's family barbecue or cook out, let alone roast a marshmallow. She was an apartment latchkey kid whose parents worked long hours as a sheet-metal installer and cook at a convalescent home. "My parents were worker bees," she said.

Even though Jeannette Castaneda was 22, she couldn't wait to get back to summer camp in Mammoth last August. Although she was looking forward to her favorite hike to Rainbow Falls and just being outdoors, she was most excited about returning as a first-time counselor. Jeannette, who at 16 received a kidney transplant five months before her first time at camp, decided to become a counselor because she wanted to help other kidney patients have as good a time as she did that year.

With darkness settling over the battlefield and soldiers bedding down for the night, the familiar lyrics rose -- music and voices blending from Union and Confederate camps. 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble there's no place like home! On more than one occasion during the Civil War, those words -- from the prewar hit "Home, Sweet Home" -- brought the two sides together, an impromptu and peaceful battle of the bands.