Fire provides light and warmth. It can keep you comfortable, both physically and mentally. It can provide a nice, hot, well-cooked meal, and even purify your water by boiling. Fire is one of the most necessary keys to unlocking wilderness self-reliance. The kicker is getting one started.
Quick Fire
Here's a quick method on getting a fire going, provided you're in dry conditions:
First, you will want to gather your small, pencil-lead-thick branches. Be sure to gather at least two handfuls. The more you have, the less of a chance that you'll have to leave your fire unattended to find more. Next, you'll want to gather four handfuls of pencil-thick branches, and then fill your arms with thumb-thick branches. Once you've got your piles of sticks, then you'll want to sort them into sizes.
Your next step is to get out your ferro-rod (firesteel) and your fire starter. My personal favorite is a prescription drug canister with petroleum jelly-coated cotton balls. All I do is dip a cotton ball in the petroleum jelly, and stuff it into a small pill canister. As you pack them in, they become more saturated. The petroleum jelly acts as a coal extender, which means that your cotton ball will still light quite easily with a strike or two of the ferro-rod, but will burn for up to 5 minutes. This allows for plenty of time to get your tinder going.
Be sure that you have a wide piece of bark on the ground as your fire lay, shielding your cotton ball from any ground moisture. Next to the bark, place a forearm-thick log that's about a foot long. Place your cotton ball on the bark, then strike your ferro-rod so that the sparks land on it. This will get a flame going quite quickly.
Next, get your pencil lead-thick sticks and lay them just above the burning cotton ball by leaning them against the forearm-thick log. The cool part about this method is that it places these thin sticks where the flame is the hotest. Also, if your fire is being starved of oxygen, simple lift up on the log and the flame will become bigger. Once those smaller sticks are going, then slowly work your way up to the thumb-thick sticks. The time to start this type of fire should be no more than 7 minutes.
Sure Fire
Having the ability to create 'sure fire' is extremely important in a survival-type or long term sustainability scenario. There are times when having fire can be life-saving, especially in cases of onsetting hypothermia. In addition, during these times when fire is that important, it tends to be during times when the setting is the least facilitating for creating fire. For instance, you will probably not need to affect fire in the event that your stuck in the woods on a sunny, 90-degree day. However, fire becomes a necessity when it's cold, windy, and wet ...about the worst conditions for getting a fire going.
So, the key is to have fire starting fuel that will burn every time ... even when it's cold, windy, and wet. One of the best types of fuel for this job is Trioxane. You can usually find this in military surplus stores, and especially online. Trioxane fuel comes in bars, and usually only take a couple strikes on the ferro-rod to get going. The nice part about this particular fuel is the fact that it burns, even when conditions are wet and windy.
Also, WetFire is another excellent tinder, which can even burn while it's floating. The only drawback to WetFire is that it's a bit more expensive than the Trioxane bars. However, sometimes having sure fire is worth the additional cost.
Once you've lit the Trioxane or WetFire, simply repeat the steps above in the 'quick fire' section, and there you go. Whether you're starting a fire to save your life, or just impressing your friends that you didn't even need matches or a lighter... having this skill in your brain tool box is definitely one that can come in handy!
-K. H. Danielsen
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