Campfire damage to gear?

A few minor holes along the way the last 35 years. It can be done safely.

same here, a number of small holes in pants, jacket, chair mostly I just ignore them but I could put a drop of Seam Grip on them

Me: Minor melted spots in some nylon outer clothes many years ago. Some idiots I saw put a propane cylinder in a campfire: rather large cinders were thrown quite far. I tend to behave and equip myself differently in UL mode versus "Great White Hunter" mode. I rarely have a campfire while BPing. If car camping or boat camping, then there may be folding chairs, a cabin tent, a camp fire, etc. And I'm most likely to be wearing jeans around camp, in part for their relative fire-resistence. The overlap would during snow camping. Some things just need to stay far away from any fire – my UL quilt, inflatable sleeping pads, etc. Planning to have a fire might push me towards CCF pad so I have something to sit on near the fire. Cautionary tale: A high-school classmate was around a campfire in "powder pants" / "Ski bibs" – synthetic-insulated, nylon-faced overalls. That which insulates from cold also insulates from heat, so she didn't notice that the pants had ignited until the molten plastic hit her skin.

I have a small Sidewinder ti cone (for a 3 cup pot. It keeps embers "contained" as long as I put a 1/8" mesh "hardware screen" over the top. They tend not to fly out of the side slots since I also have an Inferno inner cone in use for wood fires. I too abhor tiny holes in my down jackets and rein gear. ;o) Thus the precaution of a top screen.

No damaged gear for me. Smoked out gear on the other hand…

I overdid things trying to dry out a thoroughly soaked pair of Vasques a couple of years ago in the Winds and managed to melt some of the sole sidewalls off. That's what a moment of inattention while seeing to dinner will cost you. I was too lazy to dry them another way- they were literally dripping wet and I didn't want them in my sleeping bag with me. (In fact the whole reason we even had a fire was to dry footgear, which isn't smart but we were desperate.) They held together for the rest of the hike- three days. Now I use them for yard work. Otherwise I've never had an incident, I suspect because on the rare occasions when I have a fire I keep them very small. (Well, small unless my daughter is with me in an established site, because for her camping is All About The Fire.)

I fought fire for many years in Alaska where your feet will most likely be wet by the end of the day. It was very common for people to dry, or attempt to dry, boots and socks around an evening campfire. It seemed like everyone had to destroy at least one item before they started learning to carefully monitor the process, or avoid it altogether because your feet would soon be wet again the next day. Through the years I saw dozens of socks and more than a boot or two ruined by too much heat.

Nothing – well, not unless you count the pair of gloves I was wearing when one of our Assistant Scoutmasters decided it would be fun to play "hot potato" with a live coal from the fire.

on a campfire once spit a large ember onto a PU tarp. Burned a 2" hole in it.

I have burned a few holes in wool socks by leaving them on a rock on a fire ring. I also had a small ember make a pin hole in my down jacket. A few weeks back I stepped away from my fire pit to use the bathroom left my sit pad nearby the fire and an ember popped out of the fire and burned a quarter size hole 3/4 through it. That's about it for fire damage for me.

I've gotten small holes in the crotches of every pair of hiking pants I've ever owned and a couple of tiny burn holes in the sleeves and hips of 3 rain shells. All the damage has occurred on group camping trips with folks who are really eager to toss giant logs onto the fire. I darn my pants if the hole's too big; the jacket damage has never been big enough to warrant a repair. Sooner or later, I'll learn that chilly's a good thing when I'm camping with friends.

I've melted spots on the shells of a couple of gloves messing with the fire. Very mysterious. That wood didn't feel hot…

I went on an early summer trip. I didn't think it would be that cold so I brought a military surplus poncho liner to use as a blanket. It got much colder than expected so I slept by a campfire that night. While I was sleeping, a large coal popped off a burning log and landed right in between my legs. It burned a hole straight through my poncho liner and through my foam sleeping pad. Didn't see it until morning. Fortunately it didn't land on some synthetic clothing I was wearing and melt to my skin.

One time I took out a new girlfriend (now old and forgotten) into the Pisgah NF for a couple nights next to Upper Creek. I bought her a pair of supernice Thorlo socks for the trip and she laid them on a rock by the fire. Forgot. Burned them up and were half gone. Ex-Girlfriend also gone. I rarely if ever build a fire on my backpacking trips even in winter as it's just a waste of time and the warmest place I will ever be is not next to a fire but inside my tent on my 6R pad under my -15F WM bag. Fires are hugely over-rated. Many newb backpackers come out to my neck of the woods to have a bonfire and aren't concerned in the least about wind conditions or the dry woods around them. They are idiots. Fire Droolers, I call them. When a wind gust blows hot red ashes on their tents or tarps, do they care? Nope, not at all. Don't want them camping ANYWHERE around me or my Hilleberg tents. I have often come up to their campsites after they are long gone back home and found their idiocy apparent because they left their fires still burning. Yes, a flaming fire pit with no one around. Why? Emotional retardation on the one hand and being in the Entitlement Generation on the other, i.e. the Woods exist for me.