Fire Safety - Your Ganesha Stove is Made For It
July 2026 · Fire Safety · Mike Fountain · Touching the Void
Stove placed properly on the groundcloth.
For better fire safety, I’d keep the firewood away from the stove, but this isn’t bad. (📷 Alex Lam)
Here in Colorado, we’ve entered fire season. At least half a dozen wildfires are burning in western Colorado, and the high mountain valley of Crested Butte is regularly filled with smoke. So, we are all thinking a lot about fire safety.
The Ganesha stove was designed for both safety and performance.
Design Features
The most prominent fire safety feature of the Ganesha stove is the fireproof ground cloth that comes with every stove. This is a piece of welding fabric (fiberglass coated with silicone on both sides) that sits under the stove, catches embers that fall, and reduces heat transfer to the ground. When not in use, it wraps around the folded stove and keeps any ash and soot on the inside of the package.
Double walls on the Ganesha keep the hot fire inside the stove, and the outside below fuel ignition temperature (it’s still too hot to touch).
One great thing about solid rock - it doesn’t burn.
How to Do It Right
Pick a good spot to set up the stove. Solid rock, gravel, and moist soil are best.
Clear the area of flammable material. If there’s lots of vegetation and it’s all tinder-dry, keep looking for a better spot. Then clear enough space for the stove and groundcloth, and some space beyond that (the Forest Service recommends clearing out 3 feet).
Keep the fire inside the stove. If you are putting sticks in vertically, make sure they don’t stick out more than an inch or two from the top of the stove. If you are feeding sticks in the front, make sure the sticks are on the groundcloth.
Pay attention to where any sparks might go, and make sure that area isn’t full of tinder-dry grass.
Save some water to put on the ground once you’re heading out. The groundcloth reduces heat transfer to the soil, but it doesn’t stop it completely. Better yet, dig a hole for your ash right where the stove was sitting, dump in the ashes, and drench it with water.
If you are deeply worried about starting a forest fire, look for 2 kinds of spots: first, a gravelly island in the middle of a stream. Simply next to a stream on wet ground is a good alternative. Second, a talus field of rock, or a vegetation-free spot just upwind of a talus field.
Don’t Ignore Fire Bans
Even if you think you can operate your Ganesha stove safely, please heed fire bans. The risk simply isn’t worth it.
Influencer Spotlight: Mike Fountain of Walk, Talk, Brew
Mike Fountain is a coach and YouTuber based in Northern Ireland who doesn’t just like fires - he believes they have a transformative, almost magical effect on people. He leads small-group trips into the forest to revel in nature, build fires, and shrug off the stress of normal life.
Mike reviewed the Ganesha stove over several videos, and ran a comparison test with the BushBox (the similar FireBox is more common in the US). The Ganesha came out on top on every metric. You can watch them on YouTube here and here.
“Uber efficient and quick. I love what this thing does with a twig fire.”
— Mike Fountain, Walk Talk Brew
Mike followed good fire safety protocol!
Share Your Fire - #GaneshaStove
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Thanks to subscriber Alex Lam for this month’s photo.
What to Read
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson. This is the story of two men climbing a peak in the Peruvian Andes. They make the peak, but the author breaks his leg on the descent. His partner sleds him down the mountain but, in blizzard conditions, he loses control. Suddenly, Joe plummets into a crevasse. His partner can’t pull him out, and is forced to cut the rope. I won’t ruin it for you, but it’s not a tragedy - Joe lives to tell his tale, and does it exceptionally well.
Joe put this quote at the front of his book, and it’s one of my favorites:
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
More info at ganeshastove.com. Use code DISPATCH10 for 10% off.