Charcoal pit keeps lighting itself

[crafter15 10]

I'm trying to make a 3x3x3 charcoal pit. I built a nice stone room, placed a firepit in the middle, it went out. Then I start placing the wood piles around it.

As soon as I'm placing the last 2-3 piles, the whole thing spontaneously combusts. Where is the fire coming from? The pit is not burning, the Fire Starter is not on my hotbar...

It also sets me on fire and burns down half the house every time it does that. This is some epic trolling.

Also, it wasted a ton of my wood. Wood doesn't grow on trees you know....

Here's a screenshot:

[Kittychanley 1,002]

The firepit needs to be the last thing that is placed. It's what turns the log pile structure into the charcoal pit and starts the transformation regardless of it is actually lit or not.

Also make sure that you are completely filling that room with log piles. If there are any air blocks it will just light everything on fire.

[kaldskryke 27]

Also note that according to the wiki, the firepit does not need to be in the middle, but it does need to be on the bottom level.

[crafter15 10]

I placed the pit first because it's very difficult to light it and place the remaining piles quickly enough. I intended to build something like the permanent building that is shown on the wiki gallery.

I'm switching to the two-level cross design, it's appears to be nearly impossible to work with anything bigger. I hope that will be providing enough charcoal.

[Kittychanley 1,002]

The fire pit doesn't have to be in the center. You can fill the entire room with log piles except for the two blocks in front of the door. Then you light the fire pit, place the log pile on top of it which fills the last block in the room, and shut the door.