diff --git a/include/openmc/mesh.h b/include/openmc/mesh.h
index 6bc0843861..6c052b3e28 100644
--- a/include/openmc/mesh.h
+++ b/include/openmc/mesh.h
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ private:
   std::string eq_system_name_; //!< name of the equation system holding OpenMC results
   std::unordered_map<std::string, unsigned int> variable_map_; //!< mapping of variable names (tally scores) to libMesh variable numbers
   libMesh::BoundingBox bbox_; //!< bounding box of the mesh
-  libMesh::Elem* first_element_; //!< pointer to the first element in the mesh (maybe should be a key?)
+  libMesh::dof_id_type first_element_id_; //!< if of the first element in the mesh
 };
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/mesh.cpp b/src/mesh.cpp
index 32aa7c16a0..f746913344 100644
--- a/src/mesh.cpp
+++ b/src/mesh.cpp
@@ -2184,7 +2184,8 @@ void LibMesh::initialize()
   }
 
   // store first element in the mesh to use as an offset for bin indices
-  first_element_ = *m_->elements_begin();
+  auto first_elem = *m_->elements_begin();
+  first_element_id_ = first_elem->id();
 
   // bounding box for the mesh for quick rejection checks
   bbox_ = libMesh::MeshTools::create_bounding_box(*m_);
@@ -2325,7 +2326,7 @@ LibMesh::get_bin(Position r) const
 int
 LibMesh::get_bin_from_element(const libMesh::Elem* elem) const
 {
-  int bin = elem->id() - first_element_->id();
+  int bin = elem->id() - first_element_id_;
   if (bin >= n_bins() || bin < 0) {
     fatal_error(fmt::format("Invalid bin: {}", bin));
   }