FIRE FIRE FIRE !!!

Well, we have looked at some ways of staying dry and creating shelter from the elements. The next thing we need to study is how to make a fire!! Keeping warm, keeping dry, cooking food, sending a resume signal. These are some important reasons to hone your fire starting skills.

Now, there are tools we can bring to help start a fire that are obvious… lighters and matches come to mind.. but so do ferro rods, the bow drill, fire plough among others. Creating a spark is one element to starting a fire. Another is having some combustible material to help get things burning. Especially if the conditions are not ideal. Sap from certain trees can be very flammable a well. The best is sap from pine trees. If you can find some this and mix it with some shavings you will have a good base for your spark to turn to flame.

How to prep your fire materials:

It is very important to have all of your fire materials gathered before starting your fire. There is nothing worse than getting a spark, getting a small flame only to have it doe out because you weren’t ready with the next step.

First gather your materials. Find dry items like bark, small twigs or branches. The under side of fallen trees where rain hasn’t hit is a good place to look, both on the ground but also using parts of the log. If you have a knife create shavings so you have surface area. If you do not have a knife then snapping branches will create rough ends that have more surface area. Make sure you have many different size of twigs and sticks and branches so you can scaffold your fire until the flame is strong and you are confident it will not go out.

Here are some images on how to build a fire that I found on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/18kh9i1/a_cool_guide_showing_different_ways_to_build_a/

Once you have your fire materials ready to go it’s time to get your spark. So if you are doing things old school with a ferro road or a bow drill now is the time. Watch this video on different sparking methods.

The best thing you can do is go out and practice these skills before you need them in a real life survival situation.

Always be safe and have fun!!