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Knowing how to start a fire can make the
difference between living and dying. The primary benefit of a
fire to a backpacker is as a way to stay warm in an emergency
situation. You can also cook over a fire, protect yourself from
animals with it, and use it to signal rescuers, among the many
other uses.
The three basics of a fire are fuel, air and heat. You need all
three to start a fire and you need to keep them in proper ratios
to keep it burning well. This is something you learn primarily
by experience. For example, if you put logs or sticks too close
together, air can't get in, so they won't burn well. Too far
apart and they won't provide the heat to each other to burn well
either. You have to practice to really have a "feel" for fire
making.
There are also three basic materials you need. They are: tinder,
kindling, and fuel. For examples, think paper, sticks and logs,
but don't limit your thinking to these.
The Basics Of How To Start A Fire
Site Selection
Find a dry spot out of the wind, and close to your shelter. If
you are using it for overnight warmth, be sure the heat will be
directed towards where you will lay. Try to build it on sandy or
rocky ground. Soft forest floors have too much flammable
material nearby. They also have roots near the surface that can
catch fire. The fire may then burn underground, and reappear
later, starting a forest fire.
Contain the fire in a circle of rocks, but don't use rocks that
are usually wet like from stream sides. These contain water that
may cause the rock to explode when heated enough. This is not a
backwoods myth
Tinder
Tinder is dry material that ignites with little heat, and is
especially important if you are starting a fire from a spark.
This is the first thing to light, and is used to ignite the
kindling. Some fire starters that light with a match or other
flame, include paper, birch bark, straw, pine sap, wax paper,
dead dry leaves, cardboard, plastic, and dry materials soaked in
vegetable or motor oil.
If you have no way to make a flame, you'll be starting your
tinder with a spark or small ember. In this case you need a
tinder that can hold a spark that can be blown into a flame.
These include lint from your pocket, cattail seed head down,
fine dry grass, cotton twine, cotton cloth, dry-rotted wood, and
some dry funguses that grow on trees.
Kindling
Kindling is what you add to the burning tinder. It should be dry
to ensure rapid burning. It increases the fire’s temperature so
that it will ignite less combustible material, like logs.
Kindling can include small pieces of driftwood, sticks, split-up
logs, sappy pieces of pine bark, and thicker pieces of birch
bark.
Fuel
This is what you build up to. You can't light a log with a
match, and you'll be running around all night if you have only
kindling for your fire. The fuel can include logs, larger tree
branches, broken-off pieces of tree stumps, driftwood, old
lumber, and anything else that burns. I have even used dry
buffalo dung.
Not all woods are equal. Maple will produce twice as much heat
as pine. However, pine will be easier to cut or otherwise
collect. Alder has dead, easy-to-break trunks that burn well
without much smoke or sparks, making it good for a cook fire. A
smokier fire may be wanted, though, if rescuers are looking for
you. With practice you will learn which woods work best for
various purposes.
How To Lay A Fire
There are teepee fires, pyramid fires, lean-to fires and just
piles of wood that burn. Experiment a little and practice
various types before you lose your backpack in a river, or have
your down sleeping bag soaked by rain.
Essentially you want a nest in the middle of your kindling,
where you will ignite your tinder, or place the tinder once
ignited. The kindling should have enough air space between the
pieces, but not be too far apart. More kindling and fuel should
be ready, so you can quickly add it as necessary.
Lighting The Fire
One match or flame should be all that is needed to start the
initial fire. Start the fire on the side the wind is blowing
from. Protect the flame from the wind with your body and hand.
Blow gently on the flames once they are strong, to help them
spread to all the kindling. have more tinder and kindling ready,
in case the fire threatens to die out. Feed small twigs and
other kindling into the fire until it is large enough to take
logs or other fuel.
Starting a fire with anything other than a match or lighter is
very difficult, by the way. There are many survival techniques
for creating a spark, and capturing that spark in tinder, and
blowing it into a flame. You may have heard of the "fire plow,"
bow and drill," and "rock and metal" methods. Try one sometime.
Doing so will convince you to always carry matches and a
lighter.
How To Start A Fire - A Few More Tips
- Collect twice as much firewood as you think you'll need for
the night.
- Blow vigorously on the hot coals to restart the flames of a
dying fire (and add fuel).
- Spray kindling with insect repellent or other flammable
liquids to make it burn more easily.
- Use a large piece of birch bark to shelter a fire if starting
it in the rain.
- Wood on the ground is usually wet. Look for standing dead wood
or trees and branches that are leaning against other trees or
rocks.
- You can break a long piece of wood by inserting the end
between two close trees and pushing on the far end. Be careful
not to fall when the wood breaks.
- Don't break wood over your knee or by jumping on it. Lean it
up on a rock and step on the middle of the piece.
- Unbreakable pieces can be burnt in half in the fire.
- Use a base of green logs or sticks for a fire on the snow.
- If firewood is scarce, use as small a fire as possible, to
extend your fuel supply.
- Collect and carry dry tinder in your pocket, in case it is
raining when you need to start a fire.
Key Points
1. The best way to learn how to start a fire is to practice.
2. A fire requires tinder, kindling and fuel.
3. A balance of air, heat and fuel is necessary for a fire to
burn well.
4. Fire starting without matches or a lighter is very difficult
- bring a lighter and matches.
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Winter camping You actually can make snow-block shelters without tools
when the conditions are right. I have made trench-shelters of 2
x 3 foot snow-blocks with no tools. I stomped rectangles in the
heavily-crusted snow and lifted up the resulting blocks.
Stacking them on either side of a trench in the snow, and then
across the top for a roof, you can make a shelter in twenty
minutes.
Diarrhea? You can used the twigs from an oak tree to stop diarrhea . Just
make tea with a spoonful of the bark or chopped-up twigs.
Tannins in oak can be hard on the kidneys, so drink just one cup
of tea, and use oak only if you don't have other options.
If you carry one of those multi-tools that has pliers, take the
handles off your pots. The pliers will work fine for handling
the pots, and you'll save weight and space.
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