Hej! I have lived in Sweden for a few years now and I love camping and backpacking, but I thought I understood the camp fire rules that I think I may have been breaking unknowingly now. So just wanted to get some help from some friendly Swedes!
[VisitSweden.com](https://VisitSweden.com) is a pretty great website that usually tells me much I need to know, but I am confused a bit about the fire part when camping.
I understand that you should not cut down live trees or their branches and such, but here it says you can’t use fallen dead trees either when having a camping fire. If I read this correctly, the only wood you can use in nature is twigs and pinecones that are on the ground already. For me, I wouldn’t include large branches as twigs. That would mean I’d stick to only finger thick pieces of wood I find on the ground.
Fallen twigs actually are enough to create a small fire to cook over, but when you want a fire at your campsite to keep you warm in the night, it seems the fuel needs to be wood you have brought with you, meaning car camping.
So my question is, when you go backpacking and want to light a fire at night to keep warm before hitting the tent, what fuel can you use?
To be clear I am not judging the rules in any way, I just want to make sure I understand them completely as to follow them.
Also I understand in a nature preserve the rules are very strict. That is why I tend to avoid camping in nature reserves. I hike there and then try to find camping outside of them, because I believed these fallen true rules on were tied to nature reserves. But now from rereading Visit Sweden, I am getting the vibe this is for all of Sweden.
Thanks for you help my friends! And I hope you are having a cozy summer.
Best, 789.
9 comments
You have lived here for a few years but still not able to write in Swedish?
I bring firewood with me when i go camping and mix with sticks and twigs i find outdoors.
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“Du får ta nedfallna kottar och löst liggande pinnar och grenar på marken som ved till elden. Men det är inte tillåtet att hugga eller såga ner träd eller buskar, eller att ta ris, grenar eller näver från levande träd. Det är inte heller tillåtet att använda vindfällen som ved. Se till att det finns vatten att släcka eld och glöd med.”
I guess that means you can use bigger pieces too, grenar is translated into branches.
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https://www.naturvardsverket.se/amnesomraden/allemansratten/aktiviteter/eldning/#:~:text=Du%20får%20ta%20nedfallna%20kottar,att%20använda%20vindfällen%20som%20ved.
So if you own the land, you can make fires from the trees you fall on that land. If you are using allemansrätten you have permit to pick berries, not fall any trees, even dead standing trees, to make fire from. They are the property of the owner.
You are allowed to pick fallen twigs and cones, but not to take them off trees, on land that you visit with allemansrätten. You can heat up warm food and beverages in a twig stove and hit the tent after that.
Lots of foreign “bushcraft” videos take down dead trees. Pretty much all of those people are on land they have been given permit by the land owner to do this on.
Some parks have arranged fireplaces that they give you free firewood to use at.
You are allowed to use fallen branches and sticks, but not entire trees that have fallen. Nature reserves can have their own rules that override Allemansrätten. This can apply to your right to pick plants, make a fire, or pitch a tent. Many of them have permanent fire pits and campsites set up. You can probably find information online for the specific reserve you are interested in, and also posted on location.
When it comes to fire there can also be temporary local bans on fire (eldningsförbud) that you should check. This is during summer when it is very dry outside. These can vary from forbidding you to make your own fireplace, to a complete ban where even the official fire pits are closed. It is Länsstyrelsen that administers these bans. Not sure how good they are at providing this information in English.
As already said, of course you can take fallen branches.
If you need to warm yourself, the right clothes are what you should rely on in the first place. Not using a fireplace as the planned and primary heat source.
Use thermal underwear and use the layer on layer principle.
There are pocket heaters, both [chemical](https://www.intersport.se/utrustning/alpintillbehor/thermic-pocket-warmer-5-pack-handvarmare/uni/onesize?gclsrc=aw.ds) and those that use [coal](https://beredskapsfabriken.se/produkt/handvarmare-kolstav/?utm_source=Google+Shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI57vcg8-q-QIVArvVCh0J2wXpEAQYASABEgIRL_D_BwE).
If you need bright light outside, I can warmly recommend a [gas lamp.](https://www.primusequipment.com/se/sv-se/lagerplats/gasollampor)
Do people generally follow those rules? Like don’t cut down a living tree is pretty obvious, but I’ve never heard about people actually avoiding dead trees. So by just growing up here and having friends in scouts etc I actually didn’t know that was a rule.
Whatever you do, don’t take these schmucks word.
You shouldn’t use fallen trees that has an economical value for the land owner. A fresh tree can still be used for timber. If it’s a tree that has been left for years it’s more ”safe” to use it for firewood. It’s still not your right to use it but the reason for a landowner to get pissed is smaller this way.
I rarely even make a fire like that when camping anymore, unless at a dedicated fireplace. Usually there is wood provided in a shelter nearby. Theres so many fire bans anyway.
I just use my camping stove with some T-röd or gas i carry with me.