How to Build a Fire
Fire is a way of survival. Flint was struck against other rocks to create a spark. When the discovery of sparks was found, fire was then used for keeping warm, cooking, forging tools, and weapons, deterring predators, and many other tasks. Fire can be used for so many things in so many ways to sustain life. Here are the steps of how to build a fire.
1. First, you must start by collecting all the supplies needed for a fire. They can include a hatchet or axe, striker, tinder, kindling, fuel, an area that is safe for building a fire, and an extinguisher for emergencies.
2. Collect all the needed tinder, kindling, and fuel needed for starting the fire. This is important in situations where there is a limited supply and your fire does not get started on the first try.
3. Prepare your tinder. Tinder is an easily combustible material that will catch a spark and start a small fire. Common tinder could include cotton balls, lint, dry grasses, fine tree barks, etc.
4. Then you will want to prepare your kindling to the side. This includes sticks of increasing size to build the fire as it grows. It is best to have pencil lead size, then pencil size then twigs the size of your thumb, then sticks with a couple of inch diameter, and then work up to your fuel size logs. With this incremental step in size, the fire can easily grow without being extinguished.
5. After all sizes of kindling are prepared and present, be sure to have enough fuel wood to sustain the fire for a few hours. This allows you to have time to collect more fuel before the fire goes out.
6. Start by finding the safest spot to build your fire in a contained area.
7. Once all the supplies are collected for building the fire, you can begin to build your fire. Start by placing the tinder down in a bowl shape to catch the sparks.
8. Then you will want to stack the smallest kindling around and on top of the tinder. Different formations around the tinder could be a tepee, resting on a log, or log cabin style. This allows for the tinder and kindling to catch fire, but not let the spark be snuffed out.
9. Strike your spark to begin the fire in your tinder and kindling.
10. Continue building onto the fire with increasing size of kindling as the previous sticks have caught fire. This allows for the fire to grow without going out.
11. Once the fire reaches a sustainable size, continue fueling the fire with logs as needed. P.S. — Don’t forget to cook some good S’mores!!!
12. Finally, before leaving the fire, be sure it is properly extinguished with water and that no coals are burning.
