Caution: Hot Tips
A Guide to Building a Fire in the Wilderness
Why Bother Learning?
Fire building skills are important and can be used for multiple purposes such as keeping oneself dry and warm, purifying water, sterilizing wounds, cooking food, and scaring off animals. Though, the most important thing to remember is that the smoke can also be used as a signal to attract help if you are lost.
In Order to Build a Fire You Need:
- Fireplace - Somewhere it is safe to build a fire, away from flammable things such as dry vegetation. Look for somewhere sheltered and protected from wind and has a large supply of fuel (sticks,twigs, and logs) nearby.
- Pieces of dry wood - Build your stack up gradually using small to larger sticks and logs.
- Tinder - Tinder will be your fire starter. Good materials in nature to use for tinder are dry leaves, grass, bark and resin. (Resin can be found in spruce and pine trees and will light even if wet).
- Kindling - Kindling are the small dry materials you add to keep a fire going. This can be small dry twigs or parts of dead branches.
- Fuel - You will need dry logs to keep as fuel for when your fire begins to die.