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How To build a fire.
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In a lot of wilderness
survival situations, knowing how to build a fire is
absolutely essential. Fire provides heat to keep you
warm, a means to cook food & boil water, and can
lift your spirits, giving you time to rest and keep your
brain on task. Whether your firestarter
is a lighter, matches, or have to
resort to primitive means to light your fire, there
are some fundamental principles to keep in mind. |
The fire Triangle
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There are three elements that must be present
in order to build a fire; Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel.
This is commonly referred to as the fire triangle
or combustion triangle, as illustrated at right. If
any one of these elements is removed from
the triangle, no fire can occur or fire will be starved
and cannot continue to burn.
Recently
the fire triangle has been replaced in the industry
by the "fire tetrahedon"...basically a pyramid, with the floor
level being "chain reaction", but if you get
the three sides of the triangle right, the chain reaction part
should take care of itself.
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Fuel.
Of the three elements needed in learning how to
build a fire, fuel is generally the one that you will need to
concentrate on. Before you even start trying to light a fire,
you must consider your fuel carefully. In a
wilderness survival scenario,
fuel can be generally classified into 3 categories;
Tinder
-
easily combustable material used to start a fire.
Kindling - small to medium sized sticks or
combustibles, ignited by tinder.
Fire Wood /
Fuel
- Usually limbs
and logs, but can be Peat, coal, debris.
It is important if possible to try
to gather enough tinder, kindling, and wood so that you only
light your fire one time. If you light your tinder
without having enough kindling on hand, you may have to start from the beginning
again when you cant keep your fire lit. You also dont want to be wandering around in the dark trying
to find more wood for your fire at night, greatly
increasing your chances of becoming lost or injured.
Fire
Location.
Knowing where to build a
fire is almost as important as knowing how to build a fire.
You want to build a fire pit as close to your best
available source of fuel as possible. Dont make yourself walk 200
yards to go and get firewood, build your fire pit where the wood is,
if at all practical. To maximize heat, if possible build
your fire close to a rock or
cliff / hill face or with some means of reflecting heat from one or two sides of the
fire. Make sure there are no limbs overhead that might
catch fire, and no roots below your fire.
Preferably you want your fire to be built on
level ground, with a 6 to 8 foot perimeter cleared around it.
If there are any decent sized rocks around, place
them around the fire, they will reflect heat. If they are readily available pile them
up on the back side of the fire.
You can also keep your firewood stacked around your fire pit in such a way that it drys
the wood, reflects heat and provides protection from the wind
but not so close that it catches fire.
Fire building / Fire Starting.
Once you
have gathered your fuel, and selected your
location you are ready to light and build your fire.
Wind and Rain can play havoc with your
fire building efforts. If you find yourself faced
with either, do what you can to get some sort of shelter
over and around your fire pit. Pile up brush to
make a shelter and build your fire under it, find a
heavily
limbed tree and build your fire close
to the trunk, dig into an embankment
or ditch deep enough to provide some shelter from the wind or rain... whatever it takes. In this situation, it pays
to have prepared beforehand and have a good fire starting tinder
with you, store bought or premade at home.
Light your tinder with whatever fire starter
your have
available, whether
it be matches, lighter, spark fire
starter, or primitive method such as bow and drill.
Have your smallest pieces of kindling ready to place over
the flame as soon as the tinder ignites.
This kindling should be bone dry, you can burn damp wood
over an established fire, but you'll have a hard time starting a
fire with damp tinder or kindling. Once you get your kindling
burning, gradually add more kindling, and increase the size
as your fire grows. The most common mistake made
by people who dont know how to build
a fire, is trying to light a log the size
of their leg with a match and a few sticks. It takes time to
build a fire, it has to grow, start small... really
small.
When you
know how to build a fire, with whatever you have available to you, the odds
of your survival lean in your favor, instead of the other
way.
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