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-Reader Submitted Article
How to Build a Fire During an Emergency
A fire is a very welcomed and often vital in a survival situation.
It's the basis of cooking, light, heat and signaling for help. It
has been known to man for thousands of years. Fire is easy to create
and maintain if you know some basic principals of fire.
1. Fire burns up and out, not down and in. So we want our little
flames to be able to burn up to larger pieces of fuel not put small
burning stuff on top of bigger pieces and expect it to burn.
2. Fire needs oxygen and heat. Merely putting heat below materials
and expecting the top stuff to burn without air doesn't work. Leave
some room for the fire "to breath".
3. There are so much different sources of tender, kindling and fuel
available it would require an entire book listing it all. So be
assured in almost every location or situation materials can be found.
4. Fire making starts with getting "tender" lighted, which
in turn burns upward to our "kindling" and then the kindling
burns upward to the "fuel source". It sounds pretty simple
and it is.
5. Gather your materials before you begin to make a fire. Scrounging
around after you have a small fire may result in a dead fire before
your return. You need to have on hand a supply of tender, kindling
and fuel.
Site: Fire preparation begins by selecting a place for the
fire. It sounds simple, but stop and think of what the intended
purpose of the fire is. Is it mainly intended for cooking? Then
place it downwind and away from your bedding area. Will it be used
for heat? Then not only do you want it closer to your emergency
lodging or living area, but you may also need to construct a reflector
for the fire before building the fire. If it is for insects, place
it upwind and close by. If it is intended for signaling, choose
an open area where it can be seen. Clear off the spot you want the
fire. Brush away leaves, sticks, weeds, snow etc. You can place
rocks around the intended site, but use caution and do not use rocks
from a stream or river. These rocks have moisture inside and tend
to explode from inner steam pressures at the most inopportune moment,
scattering your fire and possibly causing injury. If it is available,
place some flat bark on the ground to keep the tender dry, together
and it helps to reflect some of heat upward in the beginning burn
and then dry the ground underneath somewhat.
Fire making sources: Making a fire is easiest by using a
small fire to start fire. Huh? Matches or a cigarette lighter start
fires with fire. Survival fire makers are just that; you try to
make fire to make a fire. I hope that makes sense. I am going to
forego the rubbing sticks together, fire drills and slapping rocks
together as modern methods are available to everyone today. If you
suspect you will be stranded for a longer time, buy more survival
matches.
- Matches are the first thing most people think of when considering
building a fire and rightfully so. The water and wind proof matches
as sold on this site, is the BEST method of getting a fire started.
So do your self a favor, buy some here and stash them away for
"rainy days".
- Cigarette lighters are my second choice. My hesitation is when
using them is that you have to keep them dry. A plastic bag is
all that is required for storage, but when you try to light that
fire in a freezing rain with wind blowing and you are hurt, it
gets kind of tricky. Get one of the small ones and pack it, but
also buy more matches from this site. You'll appreciate it if
needed.
- Next we get off into what I term as field expedient fire makers.
Their purpose to is hopefully make fire.
1. Spark-Lite, again sold on this site, is the premiere emergency
fire starter sold on the market today. It along with Tender-Quick
is the only way to go if you want a waterproof and sure fire one-handed
method of making a tiny fire without fire (matches &/or cigarette
lighter).
2. Magnesium fire starters were a good item and still are if you
don't have anything else. Most survival kits include them. Good
point is it burns hot; bad thing is it burns up fast. But imagine
suddenly being forced into a survival situation at the worse of
times and in the worse weather you can image. That is what we
are talking about, survival fire making. Now image you are freezing,
in a rather strong wind and perhaps with rain or snow falling
and one hand injured and out of action. Scraping enough magnesium
for a "quarter size" pile and then trying to light it
with sparks does not sound as practical as in the ads. Still it's
better than slapping rocks together. I still suggest buying more
survival matches & a Spark-Lite with more Tender-Quick tabs
for a secure fire making tool
3. Flint style lighters. Again they will make a fire and is probably
the oldest method around. Flint & steel is simple and cheap
but again conditions for their use is mandated.
4. There are many field crafted methods of starting a fire i.e.
using a magnifying glass or a piece of material to focus sunlight
onto tender. Camera lens, binocular lens, optical glasses and
such work in a pinch if you are lucky to have sun, or even batteries,
but I would still prefer survival matches & the Spark-Lite.
Now we get into the fire making process. Basically it is this; Make
the initial fire (matches or Spark-Lite or others) to light fire tender.
The tender then lights and starts to burn the kindling. The
kindling in turns burns the fuel.
Tender: This is the foundation of item needed for a fire.
It will be what you will want to catch fire with your initial flame.
It goes on the bottom of our intended fire to start the process
of starting the kindling to burn. Make a gathering of your tender
into a pile before lighting and use more than what you think you
need if it is available. Then place some of the kindling over your
tender because the tender materials tend to burn rather quickly.
You do not want to smoother the tender, but having small twigs or
whatever you are using and then stacked on top of that a few small
sticks will quickly build your fire. Some suggest putting the kindling
in a teepee fashion, but I find merely stacking the sticks like
logs work best. Leave space for the air to get in and the flames
to reach up as it grows.
Tender can be natural materials found near your site, improvised
materials of what you have at hand, previously prepared home-made
tender materials or commercial tender materials. Dry is the main
requirement when using improvised tender but the commercial tenders
burn even when wet.
- A sample of natural tender would include things like; old bird's
nests, dry rotted logs, saw-dust like wood you shave off a piece
of dry wood, inner bark from many trees, dry fungus, dry leaves
or weeds if nothing else is available.
- Some improvised tender are things like lint taken from your
pockets, wax paper, paper torn into small shreds, rubbing alcohol,
even peanut butter if you have it works quite well. Gunpowder
from a shell is great but burns quickly.
- Home-made tender has as many recipes on the Internet as cake
recipes I think. Take lint from the dryer and put into a bag.
One simple and effective tender is prepared by simply taking a
cotton ball and putting it into Vaseline. Poof! Burns great and
its waterproof. Put the cotton balls into a container, like a
film canister or baggie and stash in your kit.
- Commercial tenders are great to have. Some of them, like the
Tinder-Quick tablets sold on this site, hexamine tablets and others
work perfectly. Others even combine tender and small kindling
together such as the various brands of "fire sticks".
- A candle works great when starting up the tender and small,
even damp twigs.
Kindling: Kindling is smaller pieces of fuel that is used
to get your main fuel source ignited. Kindling in a wooded area
is normally twigs, then small finger size and onto thumb size sticks.
Stack the small stuff on the bottom, and then graduate to the larger
pieces. When the kindling is burning from the tender nicely, we
start adding our fuel. Look for dry branches on the ground, dead
limbs under fallen logs, limbs growing on the sides of trees, dry
drift wood along stream beds. If you find yourself without a tree
in sight, try winding up some weeds or even paper. They burn pretty
good and even can be used as your primary fuel. Wax paper starts
easily and burns ok if you have some. If you have a good kindling
fire going, a light rain will not effect it much and it should start
burning the fuel you intend to use.
Fuel: Anything that burns can be used as fuel, but it is
best to use something which will burn for a time. Larger limbs from
trees, construction wood, paper logs, plants twisted tight, sticks
or whatever dipped in petroleum products, cooking grease, dry animal
droppings and tons of other materials all work. Gather what you
think you need for the night and then gather about 3 or 4 times
as much more. It will not last as long as you first thought. Try
to keep water off of and out of your fuel, but most fuels will burn
even when wet if the fire is hot enough.
Types of fires. Believe it or not, there are some basic configurations
of fires depending on your needs. You can change the fuel as it
is burning or when adding new fuel to modify the type as you need
it. In the field the simple ones are:
- Cooking. The goal of a cooking fire is to have a good bed of
coals to cook with. You are not seeking flames rather the burning
coals. If the coals are rather deep, they will cook your food
nicely. If using tree materials, place the fuel on the fire in
a stacked log style and let the flames die down.
- Light . A fire you intend for light requires the wood to be
placed in a upwards position as much as possible for flames to
light up the area. If you know you want a fire for light, simply
take a limb and stick it in the ground before you build your fire.
Then as the fire burns, add more sticks leaning it against the
others.
- Heat. Unless you need a very hot and large fire for heat such
as for a group, it is best to use a smaller fire with the sticks
lying in a star like fashion. As the sticks burn, simply push
them further into the fire. If it is really cold, take some surplus
logs or rocks and stack up behind the fire before you build the
fire. This will reflect the heat rather than loosing it to the
air. Remember this in the field: American Indians told how they
would stay warm with a small fire they could "huddle"
whereas the whites would freeze by making too large of a fire
that drove them away from the fire.
- Signaling. The best fire to keep going for a signal is simply
the same as used for cooking with some plastics, rubber, green
plants, cloth or wood nearby. The aterials will catch faster from
the embers than flames.
Making a fire in a survival situation really is simple when you
understand the above described principles of how a fire starts and
builds upon itself. Take a few minutes and prepare some simple materials
for tender you have around the house. Then invest a few bucks and
buy yourself some waterproof/windproof matches and even the Spark-Lite
as sold on this site.
-Jerry B Blaine
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