Portafire.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Cool Colorado stuff - Propane-fueled device - Brief Article

PORTAFIRE: In 1997, engineer Howard Oliver went camping with his family at Rampart Range Reservoir, only to find that a fire ban was in effect. The ever-resourceful Oliver quickly went home and returned with his propane grill to use as a heat source, a legal alternative under the ban. Within a year, he had dedicated his career to developing a drought-friendly campfire substitute and soon invented (and patented) the Portafire: a self-contained, propane-fueled device that is capped with ceramic fiber logs that act as heat sinks. ("It's actually the same material the Space Shuttle uses," noted Oliver.) After the product debuted in 2000, it took almost three years to wrangle through a tricky certification process, but the U.S. Forest Service OK'd the...