The Steps to Creating a Good Fire in Any Environment PART ONE - Basic

There are many techniques when it comes to making a fire, and everyone has their favorite. Whether you’re a survivalist looking to further your skills and abilities or simply a car camper getting ready to start cooking for the family for the night, this is true. However, this first post will be more helpful toward the less experienced campers who are looking to start themselves out right and easy.  More posts will follow in a type of series in order to cover the many aspects of fire starting. 

Know Your Environment

The first thing you want to do in order to make a successful fire to warm yourself by, cook over, ward off predators with, and more, is to get a good grasp on your surroundings. Hopefully you’ll be able to do a bit of preplanning before going out, and will know at least the type of area you’ll be camping in. Some examples; if you find you’ll be going to the wetlands, it would be a good idea to bring in some dry wood with you, at least enough to keep a solid flame going long enough to dry out other materials you come across once there. This is the same for mountains or areas where you will encounter snowfall. It is likely that the wood around you will be frozen and unable to catch until thawed adequately, so bring wood with you to get a hot enough fire going to thaw more wood you collect on site to burn after. If you have more confidence in your skill set, you may get buy with locating the smaller and thinner twig-like sticks around you that will thaw out much quicker and therefore catch fire more easy. You can warm these up by keeping them in your car for a while if you have it near you, or by even sitting on them and letting your body heat thaw them. If you’re in a desert, bringing wood in with you will also suit you, for though it is dry, things to burn around you are scarce. Lastly, if you find yourself in a grassland or a forest, you will most likely have luck in finding enough deadfall around you to start a good fire and to keep it going for a time. The more time you spend in the outdoors trying different materials and techniques, the more you’ll being able to narrow down the technique that fits right for you in each environment. 

Build You're Fire 

So, now you’ve got a good idea of what’s around you. If you can, begin making small piles of the different fuels you have. You can make one pile of your thicker, dense logs that will burn longer. You can split some of these logs into thinner pieces and make a pile of those. Next make a pile of thinner sticks and twigs. And last, make a pile of very thin sticks, leaves, wood shavings you’ve used you’re knife to shave off of one of your thinner log pieces, or anything else extremely dense and dry. Now you’re ready to go! 

Get 'er Going!

Now take you’re driest tinder materials and make a little pile in the middle of your fire ring. On top, lay in a tipi style or simply a criss cross pattern your broken up smaller sticks and twigs. There are many different methods when it comes to stacking your fire fuel of course, and this is just one of them. If you have a lighter and prefer that method, then simply keep it low and light the edges of the bottom tinder so that they burn underneath the stick bundle and catch it. Once it’s going good, add more sticks, then go in with your thinner log pieces the same way you laid your sticks, in a tipi or cross cross style. As the fire begins to roar, you can eventually decide to add in the bigger logs if you’d like, but make sure it’s burning strong and hot enough to catch them! You don’t want to suffocate your fire!

Some Important Reminders 

It is important to mention also that if you do find that you will be bringing in your own wood, it is best to either collect it yourself from an area nearby to where you;ll be camping, or to purchase it from a local store in the vicinity, for every so often when foreign wood gets brought into the wrong area, certain insects that have been living in that wood get out and attack the living trees in this new environment. Another important thing that should go without saying, is to refrain from burning any live plants or trees. This is an absolute rule unless you are in utter dire need. We want to save as much nature as we can, always. I mean that’s why we’re here in the first place, right? Something to keep in mind. One last important notice is to make sure you won’t be accidentally burning more than you intended if you are indeed surrounded by, say, a lot of tall grass and/or dry dead bush. It only takes a rogue spark to start a catastrophic wildfire, so be smart. 

A Good Idea Just In Case

Also, no matter what your intentions are, even if you’re not camping and just taking a day hike, always keep a little fire kit on you if you can as part of your *EDC. It can literally be a recycled pill bottle with some flint, matches, or even a lighter, and some sort of dry substance to get a fire going initially, be it dry grass, paper, etc.

There you go, you’re on your way to becoming a full out camping expert! Hope this helped, even a little! The next installment in this blog series will focus more on a few more intermediate techniques for starting fires for those who are ready to step their outdoors camping skills to the next level.



*EDC- Every Day Carry