There is more than one way to build a fire, but finding the safest, most efficient way will serve you best no matter what the circumstances. Knowing which materials to find or bring with you (and how to use them) may be the factors which decide whether you eat a hot or cold dinner – or even make it through the night.
Building a fire can mean the difference between a cold overnight stay in the woods and a warm and toasty night around a campfire. Knowing how to build a fire is a handy skill to have, whether you apply some of the following techniques to the fire in your fireplace, an outdoor grill, or a campsite. Impromptu or planned, wet or dry, knowing how to build a fire, in some cases, will save your life.
How Fire Works
When building a fire, it helps to have a basic understanding of the science behind the event. In the simplest terms, when you add heat to fuel, a gas is produced. When this gas hits the oxygen in the air, it burns. Thus it creates fire.
There are three elements necessary to make and maintain a fire: air, heat, and fuel. Without any one of these, the fire will not burn. There is a certain ratio of each of these ingredients, but the only way to learn it is to build fires.
Fire Building Materials
The following three materials are needed to build a fire:
- Tinder
- Dry material which requires only a spark to start a fire.
- Must be completely dry to respond to heat.
- Includes some types of tree bark, wood shavings, dead plant matter, straw, sawdust, dead pine needles, rotten tree trunks, pine knots, down feathers, down seed heads, lint, cotton, gunpowder, wax paper, charred cloth, dried vegetable fibres, paper, and bamboo shavings
- Kindling
- Readily combustible material.
- Added to burning tinder to increase fire’s temperature so that it will light less combustible materials.
- Must be dry to ensure rapid burning.
- Many parks and wilderness areas don’t allow patrons to gather fallen material because of its essential role in the ecosystem.
- Includes twigs, small pieces of wood, split wood, thick cardboard, and oil or gas soaked timber
- Fuel
- Less combustible material that burns slow and steady once lit.
- Includes dry wood and branches, dried insides of tree trunks, finely split green wood, twisted dried grass, dry peat, dried animal poo, animal fat, coal, and oil
Where to Build A Fire
It’s essential that you choose the safest area possible for your campfire. Look for an area that is as sandy or rocky as possible and near sand or water in case you need to extinguish the fire in a hurry. Also, choose a location convenient for a supply of fuel for easy fire upkeep. We recommend the driest area possible. Also, select a site that will be close enough to where you will be camping to be effective.
If everywhere around you is wooded or covered in vegetation, clear away all plant material and scrape the dirt until it is completely clear of any flammable matter. The cleared area should be at least 3 or 4 feet in diameter to avoid spreading the fire. Don’t build a fire up against a boulder or other large rocks that are apart of the landscape. It will only blacken the stones without adding any extra protection against the spread of fire.
If you can build a sort of firewall in the middle of the circle, you cleared with logs or grapefruit-sized rocks. It will direct the heat where you need it most and reduce the risk of flying sparks as well as the amount of wind blowing the fire. You need some wind to provide the required air, but not so much that it blows sparks beyond the cleared area. However, don’t use wet or porous rocks as they might explode after soaking up the heat from the fire.
When you are on the trail or scouting out the perfect campsite, there are a few questions to ask yourself:
- What are the terrain and climate like, and how will they affect the fire?
- What materials and tools do you have to build this fire and will their usefulness be affected by where you build it?
- How much time do you have to build your fire before it gets dark?
Occasionally, an underground fireplace will best serve you as it conceals the fire and works well for cooking food. To build what is sometimes called a Dakota fire hole, dig two holes—one main hole in which you will build a fire and, for ventilation, one sizeable connecting hole on the upwind side of the original.
Material Placement
Depending on which materials you have, the climate and terrain you are dealing with, and your specific need for the fire (warmth or cooking), you have many techniques to choose from when arranging your materials. In general, all of the following methods start with a small pile of kindling, loosely stacked so that air can feed the flames. When the fires get stronger, add bigger and bigger branches and logs. Remember to leave space between them for the wind.
There are many more options than the following to choose from, but these are common, work well in many situations, and are simple.
- Tepee: Using your tinder material, build a tepee structure. When you light the centre, the tinder will fall inward and feed the fire. Even wet wood burns well with this technique.
- Lean-To: At a 30-degree angle, put a green stick into the ground with its end pointing in the direction of the wind. Put tinder as far under the stick as possible and lean kindling against it as well. Light the tinder. As the wood catches fire, add bigger and bigger branch pieces and logs.
- Cross-Ditch: Scrape an ‘x’ about a foot across in the dirt. Dig the ‘x’ about 3 inches deep. In the middle of the cross, stuff as much tinder as possible. Above that, build tepee of kindling. Light the tinder. The ditch lets air move beneath the tinder, bringing oxygen to feed the flames.
- Pyramid: Put two small logs, sticks, or branches parallel to each other in the dirt and a layer of small logs across them. Add three or four more layers of trunks or branches, making each layer lower than the one beneath and placed at right angles to each other. On top of the pyramid, build a fire with tinder and kindling. The fire will burn downward, allowing you a fire that won’t require attention for an extended period.
Lighting A Fire
Like the placement of materials, there is a multitude of ways to light a fire. The one you choose depends on your situation and your materials. There are many more ways than the following, but these are common and work well.
- Waterproof, strike-anywhere matches: The best! Be sure to store them in a waterproof container anyway.
- Regular matches: Stored in a waterproof container along with a striker pad, these are better than nothing. Waterproof them by dipping them in nail polish beforehand.
- Cigarette lighter: Works with or without fuel.
- Flint and steel: Aim the sparks created by scraping one against another at a pile of tinder. The steel must be carbon steel, not stainless steel. You can replace the flint with any hard, sharp, rock-edged item you can find.
- Battery: Used to ignite a gasoline soaked rag, depending on the type of battery. To create the spark, attach a wire to each terminal. Touch the ends of the bare wires together next to the tinder so that when it sparks, the tinder pile will catch it and flame.
- Magnifying glass, camera lens, binocular lens, or any convex glass: When sun rays are concentrated through a curved lens before they hit the tinder, it creates heat that allows the tinder pile to smoulder. Blow or fan the tinder to help its flame.
- Fire plough: This is the one that you’ve seen on old Westerns. Rub a stick of hardwood against a base of softwood, pressing hard. Friction generates heat and the scraping produces small flecks of wood. The two together create a spark. It takes practice, hard work, and persistence. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.
Building A Fire When It’s Wet Outside
The worst enemy of fire is wood that is too wet to catch flame. One way to combat this is to carry a few dry branches with you at all times in a watertight container. Soak them in gasoline, and they will get the fire started.
Trying to build a fire in the snow is a challenge, too. The best thing you can do to use green logs to create dry base. It is easy to break tree trunks that are about 2 to 3 inches in diameter in extreme cold. Lay several of these logs side by side on top of the snow. Add 1 or 2 more layers at right angles to the layer beneath. Lay your fuel soaked twigs on top and light. The fire will burn down.
Properly Extinguishing a Fire
You absolutely must make sure your fire is entirely out before you leave. As the fire begins to go out, push everything that is burning into a pile. It will help ensure that it all burns up; you don’t want to leave chunks of charred wood. Ashes only! The goal is to leave the campsite looking as if no one had been there.
The fire should be cold to the touch when you leave. It means you should be able to touch the ground with your bare hands. Here are a few methods to hurry the process along:
- Water – Never pour water on a burning fire. Flick the water with your fingers over the fire instead. Stir the dampened burning pieces with a stick. Break the most significant pieces with the stick and turn smouldering pieces. Repeat this process until nothing is burning and the ashes are completely cold to the touch.
- Sand – The sand or dirt should have no flammable material in it. Stir it into the fire, separating all the burning materials. Scrape large pieces with a stick. Repeat until all the embers are out and cold.
Helpful Tips
- Choose right, dry tinder.
- Shield matches from the wind.
- Use pieces of fuel that are not so large that they put out the flames.
- Burn only seasoned hardwood.
- Collect kindling and tinder on your way to the campsite.
- Coat the tinder with insect repellent as an accelerator.
- Dense, dry firewood burns slow and hot. Wet wood creates thick smoke.
- You can dry damp firewood near the fire.
- Bank the fire to keep the coals alive overnight.
- Allow the fire to breathe by leaving spaces between the wood.
- Always light your fire from the upwind side.