Children and EcoZoom Rocket Stoves: Rediscovering Fire Safely Glastonbury is Europe’s largest outdoor music festival and fans come from all over to camp in the sun (or rain) and enjoy great outdoor acts from around the world. On my last trip I noticed  when the stages & rigs shut down for the night people would light up small illicit camp fires and try to keep the party going into the small hours. The strangest thing was that due to the lack of proper fuel on site people would actually burn PVC drinks containers and other plastic trash items. The smoke and toxic smell from these fires was unbelievable at times and sometimes I saw teenagers watching adults burn this stuff. The fires didn’t seem to give off much heat either. Didn’t these fire makers realize they would be poisoning themselves and making the place stink by doing this? Perhaps they would learn this time and not do it again? This got me to thinking- who is actually teaching our children about fire, its dangers, its benefits, how to start one, what to burn or how to use it to cook? Do they do fire lessons at school?

EcoZoom stoves offer a safe and easy way to teach children about fire. The insulated combustion chamber prevents burns while also allowing for easy instruction about airflow and fuel when making a fire.

All these basic survival skills appear to be losing ground in our developed world as we rely on fossil fuels and electricity to do pretty much everything..........at least until you need some heat at a festival, campsite or riverside fishing spot. Or after a power blackout, like in recent UK storms. I don’t recall any school activity in my children’s education so far (or mine) where they’ve been allowed fire. Too risky on health and safety grounds and this is a reasonable point. As parents and guardians we need to take that risk on ourselves and show them how fire works. One of the benefits of the EcoZoom Versa or Dura rocket stoves is the ease with which you can burn renewable fuels. The hot fire chamber is kept secure in a robust, well insulated liner which is very stable. Starting a fire in a rocket stove is a breeze. While alerting any adult to the need to closely supervise any fire with or without children present, I have found my EcoZoom Versa to be a great educational instrument. Kids love collecting bits and bobs of wood and biomass to burn – no plastic, guys! No seaweed either which also smokes and pongs.  A lot can be learnt by kids’ safety during an EcoZoom outdoor cooking session. Try doing this with an open fire or barbecue and you will notice a heightened stress response as you try to stop them doing daft things. That mixed with having to constantly load on fuel can give you a lot to do. This is a further benefit of an EcoZoom stove, it doesn’t need much fuel to keep a real fire going. With the rocket jet isolated in its fire chamber, the outer side shell rarely gets too hot to touch unlike lower quality burners. Try it this year, teach your kids how to safely start a fire in an EcoZoom stove.  Keeping a fire is a basic human skill. We’ve been doing it a long time so let’s ensure we safely pass this skill on to our children. Perhaps at some point they might be able to teach their children the same lesson. Watch them learn and lets all rediscover fire with an Ecozoom rocket stove. Looking for where you can buy EcoZoom in the UK? Email Stewart at ecozoom.uk@btinternet.com or visit the Amazon UK EcoZoom page.   About the Author: Tom Pritchard is an EcoZoom employee and likes to cook outdoors with his EcoZoom rocket stove on camping trips or sunny days. You can email him directly at tom@ecozoomstove.com.