My husband is allergic to smoke from wood fires. This has developed over the past several years and is now making it difficult for us to find campgrounds to stay in. Does anyone know a good source to find campgrounds that DONT allow wood fires? It gets tiresome checking each campgrounds' website to see what the rules are.
Welcome to the forum Terbermom! Try this site on the campground review page under "Features & Amenities" and expand on that you will see "Firewood Available" if its checked off no there is a good chance the campground may not allow campfires. Campgrounds that cater to older folks also have a tendency to have fewer campfires or maybe a seperate area in the campground with no campfires allowed, but as you mentioned you will probably need to check the web site or give them a call. Hopefully some of the other members may post with other suggestions Mike
Hi TerberMom. mdcamping has the best idea, but also look for places that may have a campfire ban in effect. My wife has the same allergy and was grateful when a campfire ban was in effect for two months a couple of years ago due to all the forest fire activity. Also, some campgrounds prefer to have a community fire pit instead of ones at the sites. If the campground is big enough, perhaps a site well away from the community fire pit will work for you.
Yes,what I have been doing is looking on the "features" page. But it just means checking every campground in an area and then going to the web page to try and find the campground policy. It's just a lot of work and not always accurate. I started a data base with campgrounds I've found so far. I wonder if there are enough people with our problem to have it listed somehow in the features specifically. More campgrounds seem to be going to "bring your own firepit". This seems to eliminate those folks who start a fire in the morning and let it smoulder all day. Also seems like the RV "resorts" are more likely to go for the community pits.
Our preference for state and national park campgrounds means we typically have larger sites where the neighbors smoke is less likely to bother my wife's COPD.
I have asthma and COPD, but I'm one of those people who just can't see camping without campfires. I cover my face and have the fires, then in the night I'll have an after-effect attack and use my inhaler. However, no one should have to go through that who doesn't chose it for themselves. The Last thing you need is to have to go to an ER when your in a rural area with the nearest place 50+ miles away. Hopefully when you have finished compiling a list, you can share it with others who have respiratory problems.
His allergy is severe enough to give him 'chest pain' issues and not helped by OTC meds. Wood smoke allergy is a known factor, one reason why they report air quality around forest fires. And why some areas have banned home heating with wood. Anyway, I guess I'll keep plugging along looking for campgrounds and maybe post that database when its done.
I have found that campfire smoke bothers me as well. I am also located in Sonoma County, California, where we have had several major wildfires. When he’s outside, he could try to use a KN95 mask since N95 masks are difficult to find. When we traveled to Oregon during their fires in August and in the RV (evacuation), I purchased a Honeywell AP 100 series air purifier. Homedics also makes a smaller one. Costco has a Winnix brand in their coupon book here. They are all small enough for a RV if you have shore power. I have started to carry a steroid inhaler to use if it gets really bad. Target and Amazon carry the small Honeywell HEPA air purifier models.
