Summer camping safety tips from WCEM and Red Cross

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – With summer in full swing, a fun activity to get the family outside is to go camping. However, it’s important to stay safe. One way to keep the environment safe is with your campfires.

“If you’re going to have a campfire, make sure that you’re keeping it away from any kind of structure or any kind of wildland areas the best you can. Try to keep it contained into that fire ring that is usually provided at most camp sites. That can prevent a lot of the large wildfires from occurring,” Casey Archey with Warren County Emergency Management says.

If you don’t plan on roasting anything and severe weather is in the forecast, make sure to find somewhere safe to shelter.

“It’s good to… once you get to your campsite, kind of scope the campground. Typically there’s a bathhouse or something that you can shelter in or some kind of hardened structure, but you never want to shelter in a tent. You never want to shelter in a camper because they’re not suitable, especially if the wind were to get up or you have any trees that fall. You have a really high likelihood of being injured and or killed possibly, and we certainly don’t want that to happen,” Archey says.

A good way to prepare for any bad weather is to download the Red Cross Emergency & First Aid apps.

“The first aid app is going to walk you through any type of situation you might find yourself in while you’re out in the woods or camping. The emergency app is a great tool that you can download on your phone. I was looking at it on the way over and it shows Bowling Green as my home location, but it also shows my current location. So if I’m traveling, it’s going to pick up exactly where I am,” Jennifer Capps with the Red Cross of South Central Kentucky says.

Both apps are available in the Google Play Store and App Store and cover anything from stings and bruises to heat stroke.