CAMP FIRE TIPS

"Careful with fire" is good advice we know. "Careful with words" is ten times doubly so.
-William Carleton

• 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. HHaste 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. Put an ESBIT Tablet down on the surface, light it, and slowly add your small twigs building the fire up gradually.
• 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.

COOKING FIRES: 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.

WET CONDITIONS: In rain or snow, fire making becomes more important, and also more difficult. Here is where having ESBIT Solid Fuel Tablets will be a great help for your tinder base. One method is to make a tripod of sticks over your chosen fire area and drape your jacket over the tripod to shelter the firebase. Carefully light your tinder, add some twigs, and remove your jacket. If the ground is exceedingly wet lay a base of large logs and sticks and start your fire on top of them.

TYPES OF WOOD: When and where possible use old dried wood from conifers (evergreens) for starting fires. Dry cones are great too for starting a fire. You may not have the time or the energy to go around and select wood, so burn what you can, get warm and safe and then look for more wood. Just remember that pine, cedar, spruce will start a fire quickly but burn swiftly. Woods such as oak, ash and maple will burn longer but are more difficult to ignite. Aspen, birch and poplar are quite common and they make good fires as they burn hot but fairly fast. You don’t want wet or new wood; look around for downed trees or limbs. Whatever supply of wood you intend to have at hand to burn, gather at least 3 times more than you think you will need, experience shows that you will use it. Wood burns faster than you think.

TINDER: ESBIT Solid Fuel Tablets are an excellent long burning and hot ignition source for use as fire tinder. You can make your own fire starter kit from lint, sawdust, etc. slightly saturated with charcoal lighter, kerosene, and carry it in used 35mm film canisters that have been sealed tightly with duct tape. Always have an “extra” supply of matches stored away for emergencies. One easy home-made fire starting kit is to take two small zip-lock bags, insert 6 to 8 strike anywhere matches in one along with a small piece of emery paper or sandpaper to strike against in wet conditions. Add in a combination of dried wood shavings, purposely made or picked up on the trail. Seal this bag upside down inside the other bag, for maximum waterproof protection and keep it in your jacket pocket, not as a primary, but as a back up, just in case you ever need it.

There are a variety of fire starting kits available in your local camping/hunting store, pick one of these on your next visit as your emergency back up. Practice whatever methods of fire starting you choose at home in your backyard, so you know how it works. As a safety suggestion, DO NOT rely on the disposable butane lighters to always function for you in the outdoors, as you can not always rely on them in wind and wet conditions. Also, if they slip out of your pocket and into the fire, you could have a potential explosive projectile. The problem with most lighters is that you cannot determine the fuel supply in them, and some disposable types will not light at higher elevations.

Fire Starting Tips: One of the critical elements for starting a fire in the wilderness is to get good dry tinder to ignite easily, so you can build your fire on this initial ignition point. Most people rely on available pine needles, bird’s nest, dry grass, etc. as their primary source of tinder. Sometimes these critical elements are not readily available, or in a crisis situation you don’t have time to look for them. Here is one you may not have thought of...DRYER LINT. Ask your wife how much accumulates in the dryer catch screen, believe me its readily available, plentiful and the cost is nothing. Considering that most of your clothes are made of polyester or cotton blends, this off flow of lint particles is a good fire ignition source. You can get a large supply into a very small flat polyethylene bag. If you add a few strike-anywhere matches you have a ready-made tinder and fire starting kit. This is lightweight and easy to carry with you at all times. You can increase the volatility of the lint by packing a 35mm film canister tightly, then carefully saturating it with some white gas or kerosene. Close the container securely, wipe off all spillage and then tightly seal the canister around the cap with duct tape. Be very careful when you use this method of fire starting in the field, stay back from the source, as it will flash up very quickly.

Easy way to Waterproof Wooden Matches: The common perception for waterproofing stick matches is to dip your “strike anywhere” match heads into wax as a preventative to water penetration. Though this method works, it is very difficult to do successfully. First of all not many of us want to melt down a candle or a bar of wax for coating a few matches; secondly there is the chance that the wax may become too hot in its liquid stage and ignite the match. In times of crisis it may also be extremely difficult to successfully scrape away the wax in order to ignite the match. An easier and more practical way to waterproof your “stick matches” is with an application of a heavy coating of clear nail polish over the match head and down the wood stick. Don’t forget to coat the bottom of the matchstick. Think of it as the same method in which you would waterproof your deck. Clear nail polish will seal the match head and coat the wood to prevent penetration of any moisture. Clear nail polish applies easily and dries quickly. After allowing time to dry the coated matches can be securely stowed with your survival gear.

Easy way to light your campfire: Remember those birthday candles someone once put on your cake that you can’t blow out… they mysteriously keep re-lighting making your feel a little silly trying to continually blow them out. These “trick candles” make great additions to your outdoor fire starting kit. Use your match to ignite one of these, keep it somewhat sheltered in the cup of your hand and use it to ignite your tinder. It is a lot easier to position than a match or a lighter. Liberally wet your fingertips to extinguish the candle and keep it for another use. You can find these in the bakery departments of mass merchandisers or at the grocery store. They are small, lightweight and extremely useful in wet or windy weather.