Why does a camp fire get significantly hotter over the first hour, despite the volume of wood fuel remaining relatively constant?

Question

Why does a camp fire get significantly hotter over the first hour, despite the volume of wood fuel remaining relatively constant?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Much of the heat initially is being absorbed by the surrounding fire pit rocks and ground. After the fire has been burning a while, and those are already heated up, you’re now not only feeling the heat of the burning fire, but also the radiant heat off of those heated rocks and ground, as well as the heat radiating off of the coals in the center of the fire, which weren’t present at the start of the fire.