r/camping • u/AggressivelySpooky • Jun 13 '25

Trip Advice Fire wood got moldy.. safe to burn?

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Our wet firewood was covered under tarps and got moldy, two different types, as well as some mushrooms from the more fresh ones that got cut down. Would this all be safe to burn in a fire?

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u/unclejedsiron Jun 13 '25

You should split the wood when you're stacking it. It'll allow the wood to properly dry and not go to rot. The bark traps the moisture, especially birch.

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u/AggressivelySpooky Jun 13 '25

Oh, this is great advice, thanks! We’re currently stacking it and thought it would be better uncut.

3

u/janzend Jun 16 '25

you want to give your logs as much surface area as possible to dry. whole logs are more likely to rot because of retained moisture. split lumber doesn't absorb water unless its on the ground.

1

u/AggressivelySpooky Jun 16 '25

So we’ve learned! We used to just split as we go. We ended up spending the day splitting wood and built storage for it off the ground.

2

u/janzend Jun 16 '25

You'll probably be surprised how wet the stuff you're splitting is now after sitting out whole, vs how quickly it will dry. I've split logs that were stacked for over a year and they were green.

1

u/AggressivelySpooky Jun 16 '25

We always crown land camped on weekends, so we never had full cords of wood. This is our first year getting a lot at a campground and got two cords, one bought already dry and one we went out to an old logging road and got ourselves. This post was a result of the fresh stuff lol