How to Make a Fire: Tips and Tricks

Tips and tricks on how to make a fire

Use these tips and tricks to learn how to make a fire with survival in mind. [ photo]

Learn how to make a fire the smart way with these tips and tricks.

How to Make a Fire: Getting Started

* Whenever you build any fire, for warmth, overnight, or for cooking, get all the materials together in their proper place, before you strike your match.  Matches are one of your most valuable physical assets in the outdoors.   Haste and poor preparation defeat the purpose of being able to quickly and efficiently start a fire. There is the old outdoor adage of only one match for one fire, if you practice, prepare and predetermine your actions you can accomplish this task, even in severe weather conditions.

* For a midday cooking fire, pick a sheltered location away from overhanging branches and on solid ground, and make a very small fire. For evening cooking and for an overnight fire, plan for a larger one or several small fires around you, this will help provide for greater warmth. Three (3) fires in a triangular arrangement is a recognized air to ground signal of distress.

* For overnight fires, pick your sleeping location first and build your fire in relation to it for maximum warmth. Do not set your sleeping bag too close to the fire, and make sure your fire pit it is a safe distance from overhanging trees, etc. Do not use wet or damp rocks, they can heat up and explode.

* Start any fire with the utmost of patience. Plan it carefully and one match will do.  Get as much out of the wind as you can before striking your match, shield your fire area with your body or make a windshield with your jacket or other gear before lighting your match. Though one-match-one-fire is for the professionals, make sure before you leave home that you have plenty of matches stored in a weatherproof container. In times of need, what works in good times always fail in bad times, so BE PREPARED!

* Lay a foundation of fine tinder, such as shavings from dried twigs, a bird’s nest, or whittle with your knife from a dried branch. Use pre-prepared tinder you have made from dryer lint or wood shavings from home. Whatever you have or decide to use get a good supply of dried tinder into your fire area before your strike that first match.

* Crisscross above the fine tinder bed you have made a few larger dry twigs about the size of a pencil to begin. Have increasingly larger wood at hand. A good method is to lay your tinder beside a short length of stick 3 to six inches in diameter, lean the twigs over the tinder and against the large stick. Now when the tinder catches, the twigs go in a moment, add larger ones and a good blaze is there.

* Always light your fire with the breeze at your back, and on the side nearest you to provide additional ease and shelter. Always light your fire from below the tinder, not on top. Never start your fire under overhanging limbs of trees, or where the smoke will blow into your shelter. Take the time to plan, and your fire will ignite quickly and burn safely.

* Having a firestarting tool, like the Swedish Firesteel 2.0, is a good idea. You can practice with it at home, too. If you’re really in pinch, you can make a bow drill, although this is difficult.

How to Make a Fire for Cooking

Look for flat dry rocks to surround the fire, so you have containment and a place for your utensils. A small pit built with rocks laid out in a “V” or a “U” with the open end toward the breeze will allow draft in that open end to help keep the fire going. If winds are strong, reverse the open end of your pit.  Again, the most important consideration is to start with a small fire and progressively add larger material. Do not panic, take your time and concentrate and you can build the fire that you want.

One thought on “How to Make a Fire: Tips and Tricks

  1. bigsilk

    Looks like quite a bit of work, and petroleum jelly works better, but I use cotton balls:

    You’ll need a small saucepan, tongs, a baking tray, paper towels, petroleum jelly, cotton balls and a pill bottle.

    Over VERY low heat, add a couple of tablespoons of petroleum jelly to the saucepan until it melts. Turn off the heat. Toss in a couple of cotton balls and use the tongs to absorb the pj. Once saturated, remove them with the tongs and put them on the paper towel-lined baking tray until cool. Repeat until you have, say, 10. When they’re all cool, put them in the pill bottle.

    These will give you 8-10 minutes of flame, more than enough time to get an inferno going…

    And if you live in such an area, white bitch bark is flammable. Only gather downed bark. I cut mine into two-inch squares. When starting a fire, I put a square under the cotton ball fire starters. My shtf fire starting kit consists of a freezer bag filled with a dozen or so bark pieces, two lighters, matches in a WP bottle, and a bottle of those cotton balls.