In many survival situations the ability to start a fire can make the difference between living and dying. Fire can fulfill many needs. It provides warmth and comfort and saves calories our body normally uses to produce body heat. Remember however that fire can also create problems. It can cause forest fires or destroy essential equipment; it can also cause burns and carbon monoxide poisoning when used inside shelters.
Given its importance in a survival situation, you should never find yourself struggling or unable to build a fire. Always keep fire-starting equipment both in your pockets and in your survival kit. You should always carry both matches and lighters in waterproof bags or containers. To provide extra security a flint-and-magnesium set is a good choice because it still works even after being soaked. Before using any of your fire starting equipment, or rather before you rely on it, test it to see if it really works. I have found that a lot of waterproof matches perform poorly even when dry.
Never rely on making fire by primitive methods such as bow drills. These look very easy when seen in survival programs and other media, but your chances of success are practically nil in a real survival situation. It’s also a huge time and energy wasting exercise even if it is successful.
In order to build a fire, it helps to understand the basic principles of fire. Fuel (in a nongaseous state) does not burn directly. When you apply heat to a fuel it produces a gas. This gas, combined with oxygen in the air, will burn. Understanding the concept of the fire triangle is very important in correctly constructing and maintaining a fire. The three sides of the triangle represent air, heat, and fuel. If you remove any of these, the fire will go out. The correct ratio of these components is very important for a fire to burn at its greatest capability. As with all things in life, the only way to learn this ratio is with practice.
To make wood burn you need to raise its temperature to a critical point.
At about 400 degrees Fahrenheit wood dries out and breaks down due to heat but does not burn per se.
Between 400° F and 550° F, a piece of wood is reduced to charcoal, but without flame.
Between 550° F and 950° F, wood will ignite with an open flame.
At about 1000° F, spontaneous ignition occurs.
So in order to create a fire we need to raise the temperature of the wood to something hotter than 550° F.
The most important point here is the size relationship between the ignition source and the fuel. A burning match can easily raise a twig about the diameter of a match to its critical temperature and ignite it. The match, however, simply does not have the quantity of heat to ignite a large piece of wood, and this same principle applies when adding larger fuel to a fire. If the quantity of added fuel is too great or its size too large, it will consume all the heat before reaching its critical temperature and the fire will go out. This is where problems usually occur for the inexperienced; getting ignition is generally no problem but transferring that initial flame to progressively larger fuel is a problem. Increase the size of the fuel very slowly and in small quantities.
It’s also very important to place the fuel correctly so it’s close enough to transfer heat from one piece to the other without being too close together to keep the volatile gases from adequately mixing with the oxygen in the atmosphere and smothering the fire, or more correctly, making the mixture too rich to burn.
Making a fire when everything in the environment appears to be wet can be your biggest challenge, but not a hopeless one. Start by trying to find or make a dry as possible area to start the fire on, as wet ground will take heat away from your fire when getting it started.
As with any survival situation you need to take stock of what you have with you such as a piece of plastic, some lint from your clothes, or a couple of old business cards that could be a big help in getting a fire started. Pitch and resin from pine and spruce trees are always available in B.C. and make great fire starters as they’re not affected by wet weather.
Look around fallen trees, under tree branches, and inside hollow trees for dry tinder. If this fails you can cut into larger wood till you get to the dry centre for tinder. Once the fire is going, dry the damp or wet wood you’re going to use by placing it near the fire. This is a good practice even if it isn’t wet as warm wood burns better than cold wood.
With larger dead wood, break it into smaller pieces between two trees situated close together using leverage as this uses less energy and is safer than using an axe. Build your fire at the base of a large fallen tree or pine tree stumps as they have a lot of “fatwood” (resin soaked core and roots). This conserves energy as less wood gathering is necessary.