How to Start a Fire (and Fire Extinguishing Methods)
10-14-2015
Author: Blog Editor in Outdoor Adventures 101
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By Brigham Madden-Cox
There isn’t anything as necessary while camping/spending time in the wild as a good campfire. Whether you’re boiling water for drinking, baking some freshly caught fish in tinfoil, or just trying to stay warm and chock full of chocolate s’mores, you’re going to need a strong fire and will oftentimes need to know how to make one quickly.
The flip-side of that skill, though, is the responsibility that comes with setting things on fire while surrounded by outrageously flammable things like leaves, pine trees, or just all of the southwest during the summer. You may not be the only one who can prevent wildfires, but you should still know how to put out a fire!
There isn’t anything as necessary while camping/spending time in the wild as a good campfire. Whether you’re boiling water for drinking, baking some freshly caught fish in tinfoil, or just trying to stay warm and chock full of chocolate s’mores, you’re going to need a strong fire and will oftentimes need to know how to make one quickly.
The flip-side of that skill, though, is the responsibility that comes with setting things on fire while surrounded by outrageously flammable things like leaves, pine trees, or just all of the southwest during the summer. You may not be the only one who can prevent wildfires, but you should still know how to put out a fire!
How to Start a Fire (Sing it like Billy Joel)
“It was always burning since the world…” No?
OK, well before my days writing Outdoor Adventures 101 for MobileRVing I was just a kid living in a house that required me to light a fire every day after school if I wanted to hang out in the (furnace-less) half that had the TV. So yeah, I’ve known how to make a fire for a long time. Here are the basics:
- Find tinder (no, not on your SmartPhone) - Making a fire is made far easier by locating (or bringing) some good, dry tinder. You’ll want something that will catch fire quickly, but that won’t burn out before it can light a thin stick or two. Lint, dried moss, relatively dry leaves, or newspaper (twisted into a rod with a quarter-sized hole) work well.
- Gather firewood of various sizes - while you’re scrounging for tinder keep an eye out for kindling (sticks about a popsicle stick wide), thicker branches (dead and dry, not damp and green), and several thicker chunks of wood.
- Make a “nest” of tinder, then build a teepee of thin kindling over it. Don’t pack it all too tight, you should always leave space so the fire can breathe. Thread tinder through gaps in your teepee and be sure that when it collapses the sticks will fall inwards.
- Ignite - I’m not cool/manly/patient enough to learn how to make a fire bow, or at least not how to put it into practice, so I’d suggest you carry a good box of matches at all times, and an emergency fire starter for when you’re in a pinch/in danger.
- Blow gently, then gradually harder as the fire burns hotter. It’ll almost look like you’re blowing it out, but if the fire has truly caught it will “reignite” after each below-like-blow.
Putting Out a Fire (5 Prep-Based Steps)
I’m not sure if it was the TV advertisements or the three times that I was trained to be a junior ranger (top that, I dare you) that indoctrinated me into some kind of Smokey the Bear sleeper agent, but I’m always that guy who won’t leave a campfire until he’s doused it in both dirt and water and has walked across it a few times. Which gives away some of the steps to putting out fires, but read on anyway for some extra tips:
- When setting up make a fire in a clearing/away from hanging brush or branches.
- Dig a hole before starting your fire and circle it with rocks. This is useful for starting a fire, not just for preventing it from getting out of control.
- When you gather your tinder and wood be sure to grab a bucket of dirt and/or a bucket of water to keep by the fire. Different types of fire extinguishers are also useful, but may not be available (or practical) for putting out a fire in the wilderness.
- Once you’re finished with the fire, extinguish it with a combination of water and dirt/sand, if possible.
- You should always make sure that the flames, coals, and even the ashes, are completely doused. Seemingly harmless ashes often blow in the wind, igniting dry brush, trees, etc. This is doubly true for disposing of ashes from a household fireplace--never do so near the side of the house.
The next time you go camping and need to start a fire, but don’t know how, follow these simple, and far-from-burdensome steps every time you make a fire. There just isn’t any reason not to!
Photo Credit: Zen Granny Photography
Photo Credit: Zen Granny Photography
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Comment
TrailmasterOctober 28, 2015 | 11:17 PM
Though of course carrying water proof matches is great advice (put them in a pill bottle to keep them dry) I am quite surprised that the article didn't mention disposable lighters. Dirt cheap, hundreds of lights. When I smoked I always had plenty around, But even a non smoker can easily have have a dozen stashed in strategic places.
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