Really? I cannot recall one documented case where a campfire caused synthetic clothing to catch fire enough and melted on a person.
Probably never happened. But the excellent fire retardent properties sure was the reason wool base layer was mandatory when I worked at an aluminium plant way back when. Yes, you need a pretty good reason to put on wool underwear when you're working in 120F and above with liquid aluminium...
Keep in mind that wool is best for cold and drier environments and not necessarily for cold and constant wet environments like the Pacific Northwest. Up here walking and sleeping in wool clothing that is constantly wet from rain that after a day it gets old very fast...
This is where I respectfully disagree on several points. I must admit that I rarely spend many days and nigths in a row outdoors, it's mainly daytrip stuff and the occational camping trip. However, I would say that I do know what wet wool feels like in a cold and wet environment. There is absolutely no way I would substitute my wool base layer for some synthetic equivalent under those conditions - I simply don't trust synthetic to keep me warm when damp/wet. Period.
This isn't meant as a critique of your experience or choice of clothing. Whatever rocks your boat and all that.
I am a bit curious, though: You use the term "gets old very fast", and i guess you mean that you become uncomfortable (but not nescessarily cold). I would appreciate if you could elaborate a bit more on that, please.
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