In theory, yes, of course (CO). In practice, I am not personally aware of any deaths from that, but the continuing use of heavily coated "tents" by the US military is certainly going to create "opportunities" for people to gas themselves to death - I see those are turning up on the surplus market, so some elk hunter somewhere is going to fall asleep in one of those on a cold night with a couple of burners running... it's inevitable. But it seems unlikely in a backpacking tent or traditional canvas wall tent. In those, fire is the big danger.

IMHO, the biggest "fume" danger is from fuel vapors, like from a white gasoline stove, and ignition of those have for CERTAIN caused nylon backpacker tents and contents to burn nearly instantly. Having said that... most of my personal in-tent stove use has been with white gas backpacking stoves. Gotta follow good rules... tents used to come with a "stove hole" in the floor (I still have one or two in the camping gear room). Usually a zippered semi-circle. They disappeared with the vast rise in tort cases, on which I have no comment, other than to say again that life has risks and I would not care to live in a riskless world.

IMHO it is best to get tell-show-do instruction on using a stove in a tent - from an experienced, safe, competent person. Or skip the idea. If I base camp with one of our really big "packable" tents (barely - need to use a cart), I will continue to use a propane cat heater in really cold weather. Only when awake, etc. Super cold conditions will never see me in those big tents.

On a really long trip without re-supply, I will probably continue to use a white gasoline fueled stove. On anything up to 5-7 days, I have pretty much converted to a cannister-type stove, only taking white gas on weekend trips when I want to refresh my familiarity with a particular stove. For the next 3-4 years it is very unlikely that I will be in a situation requiring me to cook in the tent. After that <shrug> I intend on doing some serious trekking again, so who knows?

Actually, that nylon didn't burn as fast as I thought it would. A test using the thinner tent material would be interesting. I think we have some firemen in this forum. I'd like to hear their comments on how an enclosed tent would be different from the vertically hanging fabric. Would there be a 'flame-over' in the top of the tent because of super-heated gas in a closed space?

<img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Ha ha ha ha... ROTFL...

I just imagined watching some bozo at a campground pumping his white gas stove (aka coleman) like mad with the cap not on all the way, then when he goes to light it off, from outside you see the big blue flash, and then he is sitting there with the Wiley Coyote singed look and nothing but tent poles around him. Ha ha ha ha....BMG <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

That reminds me of a warning about using carbide as a makeshift light source. One time my buddy decided he would build a little glow light for the camp and grabbed a 2 gallon milk jug, tossed in a handful of carbide and some water, poked a hole in the cap and lit the escaping acetylene. So we're all standing around checking out the scene, and suddenly this big whump comes from my friend's hand, where he is holding the milkjug. He is afraid to look because he doesn't know if he even has a hand anymore (couldn't feel it on the end of his arm for a while, it turned out). No damage done fortunately, but we had to wait for minutes for our eyes to adjust back from the big flash of the milk jug. Apparently the back pressure in the jug was more than the little caphole could handle, and it either anurismed the jug and the flame caught the escaping gases just right, or it reached critical pressure (I think about 32 psi maybe) and detonated.

Either way, it made for a good laugh. We still talk about it around the campfires. I especially remember the look on my buddy's face as I turned on the flashlight and shined it on him, then slowly moved the light towards the end of his arm....

ROTFLA ha ha ha ha ha......BMGA <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

In fact I AM a fireman. Lighter nylon would go faster - much faster and the enclosed space would heat up fast too.

I'm trying to find a retired tent to burn for another video.

I’m anxious to see you burn up a real tent. I almost set fire to my 4 season expedition tent a few years back. My bud had his knife in his hand ready to cut through the fabric to get out. But I managed to get things under control without any damage.

It is just not realistic to consider not using a stove or lantern in cold/extreme cold situations inside your tent. You just have to be very careful and move slowly. Always allow ventilation to prevent CO poisoning. Never let a stove burn when you are asleep, I do keep the lantern on a min. setting as it is suspended from the ceiling and cannot be knocked down.

Even with the best gear, waking up at 10°F or below and getting dressed without heating the tent is a rather painful thing to do. Cooking outdoors is not an option. You risk freezing extremities or burning your gloves/mitts. Too much fuel would be wasted in the exposed conditions, etc

And hey, accidents do happen, so keep a blade handy for a quick exit through the fabric wall. Don’t take the time to exit your sleeping bag either, cut & roll out ASAP if something is on fire. I’m sure those nylon tents will go in a few seconds.

White gas (Coleman fuel) is still the best option for cold weather & altitude. Do refuel outdoors !!!