Survival Fires

Few will argue that fire building is one of the most essential survival skills.   Fire will keep you warm and prevent hypothermia when it is cold.   It will purify your drinking water and sterilize medical tools.   It will cook your food and kill dangerous germs and parasites that might be lurking in wild game.   It will entertain you and lift your spirits and make you more comfortable.  It will help keep wild animals away.  It will serve as a bright signal at night or a smokey column in the day to help alert rescuers to your location.

When we think of survival fires, we are usually thinking about wilderness survival.  But you may need to build a survival fire in your own back yard during an extended emergency situation.  You may need it mostly for cooking but might also need it for warmth or drying clothing or bedding. You probably won't need to build a signal fire in your back yard.  Some jurisdictions prohibit backyard fires but in most cases cooking fires are allowed and during an extended emergency rules are likely to be somewhat relaxed.

Given the importance of fire, wouldn't it be a good idea to be able to quickly build a fire in a survival situation?  You may see many survival "experts" tout old traditional, even stone-age, methods of making a fire as essential skills (mostly variations of rubbing two sticks together).  While these are probably good to have as last ditch back up emergency skills in case you get stranded unexpectedly without any survival supplies, you can take simple steps to ensure you will be able to quickly make a fire in an emergency.  The only way I want to start fire by rubbing two sticks together is if one of them is a match!   Forget about "waterproofing" matches.  DIY waterproofing can often seal in moisture rather than keeping it out.   Each match is only good for one use and when they're gone, you're back to rubbing two sticks together.   Any time you're headed out into the wilds where survival might come up, carry a Bic lighter.   A lighter is about the same weight and takes up about the same space as a dozen wooden matches -- and will light hundreds or even thousands of times.  When it runs out of fuel it may still be useful as a spark generator.  Along that line, a really handy and light weight fire starter is a flint and steel.  You can tuck them in your pack or pocket and always have a ready source of ignition at your fingertips.  Some include magnesium sticks you can shave so you can even light a fire in wet conditions.

Here is a link to a good tutorial on 9 Ways To Start A Fire Without Matches.   Note that a primary theme is practice, Practice, PRACTICE!  All the book-learning in the world isn't going to do you much good if you can't make it work, especially if you're cold and wet and REALLY need a fire NOW!   To be safe, know which methods are easiest and which ones work in wet weather -- and which ones YOU can actually do!

One of the most unusual ways I've seen someone start a survival fire was using a clear plastic bag filled with his own urine as a lens to focus sunlight. The technique would probably also work with clear water, but it got the job done, without wasting any precious water.   One more example of making use of whatever resources you have in a survival situation.

Flick your Bic!  A Bic style lighter should be one of your primary survival tools.   Even when the fuel runs out, it is still an effective flint and steel that can create a spark large enough to ignite well-prepared tinder -- until the flint wears out.  It is small, light weight, and very durable.  It is highly resistant to water and somewhat resistant to wind.  Lighters will withstand surprisingly hard impacts. I wouldn't recommend deliberately testing them with a rock or a hammer, but they will probably stand up well to most of the abuse they'll receive in pocket or pack.  I have often touted flint and steel as a basic survival tool, but I would strongly urge you to carry a lighter as your primary fire-making tool -- and flint and steel as a backup.   A lighter will only last so long before the fuel runs out or the flint is used up.

Of course you can use matches to start your fire -- if you have them.  Strike anywhere wooden matches are my preferred matches for camping and survival.  The Strike on box version isn't as versatile but may be a little safer if there are small children around so they may be good in your home survival kit.  Paper or "safety" matches aren't as durable as wooden matches and can only be struck on the special strip on the cover.  However, in an emergency situation, you might be able to double your supply of matches by splitting paper matches. I've tried it, and it isn't easy.   I've seen Les Stroud do it on an episode of Survivorman.  As he said, it is always good to conserve your resources in a survival situation.  Paper matches have the advantage of being small and easy to carry.  A book of matches is roughly the size of an old Eisenhower silver dollar.   If you choose to carry paper matches, put them in a sealed plastic bag to avoid getting them wet.  They won't work at all when they are wet!

As a backup fire starter, carry a magnesium flint and steel fire starter.   You can start a fire with one of these even when it is wet.   Shave some of the magnesium to make small pile and strike a spark into the pile with the flint and steel.  Magnesium is the same stuff used in old-fashioned flash bulbs and will burn bright and hot, even when it is wet.  A typical flint and steel fire starter will give you thousands of lights.  Practice using your flint and steel to routinely start your campfire so you will be comfortable with the technique and able to accomplish the task quickly in a survival situation.   Be aware that they often come from the factory with protective coatings that inhibit the spark, so it may take a few tries before you get a good spark from a new one.  The mass and durability of a flint and steel fire starter will ensure you enough to start lots of fires. The tiny little flint and abrasive wheel on lighters can wear out rather quickly, especially when the fuel runs out and you have to keep striking them over and over to use the sparks to ignite your fire. Having properly prepared tinder is essential for successfully starting a fire with flint and steel.   My preferred tinder is cotton balls.  Synthetic "cosmetic puffs" may look the same, but the sparks melt through the fibers instead of igniting them the way they do with 100% cotton.

Rubbing two sticks together is a last resort, one you may be stuck with if you have gone out unprepared or found yourself unexpectedly in survival mode, like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway. The only way I want to start fire rubbing two sticks together is if one of them is a match!  However, you could unexpectedly find yourself in a situation where that is your only choice.   Anything you can do to give you a mechanical advantage will be helpful.  A bow drill can save you a lot of blisters. You'll need a flexible bow (usually a green stick); a hardwood base place, a softwood drill, and a bowstring.  The bowstring must be looped around the drill so it spins the drill as you "saw" the bow back and forth. Lacking the materials (or knowledge) to make a bow drill, a fire plow, is a simple alternative.   It works like this: start with a shallow grove in your base material and push the tip of your "plow" along the groove rapidly and repeatedly until it gets hot enough to begin to smoke and create an ember you can add to tinder to get your fire going. You can create enough friction to get a fire started by twirling a stick with your hands into a notch in your base plate, but it is very likely you'll blister your hands before you get fire. To minimize blistering, use a "drill" that is about 2' long. Start with your hands at the top and spin the "drill" between them by rubbing your hands back and forth as you press down on the drill. Your hands should move slowly down the drill as you spin it. You might prepare your hands for the proper movement with an exercise like the hand movements for the "itsy bitsy spider" children's game.  The downward movement keeps pressure between the drill and the base plate to generate friction and reduces the chances of blisters.  Wear gloves if you have them.   Stop now and then and slap your hands together to minimize getting blisters.  Your goal is NOT to prove how macho you are or how much pain you can endure.  It is to get a fire going with as little pain and waste of energy as possible.  For just about any variation of rubbing two sticks together, the base should be hardwood and the drill or plow should be softwood.  And always prepare fine, dry, easily ignitable tinder.   Quite frankly, before I would try rubbing two sticks together I would scout around for some rocks that might make a spark when banged together or struck with steel.  Hopefully you at least have your multi-tool or pocket knife with you.

The sun can be an excellent source of energy to light fires.  You just need a way of focusing the sunlight into a concentrated point to get enough heat to ignite your tinder.  The classic tool for this is a magnifying glass.  But since just about no one except Sherlock Holmes carries a magnifying glass around with them all the time, you may have to find an alternative.  Prescription eye glasses are sometimes strong enough to focus sunlight.   Sometimes a flashlight lens will work, but many of them are flat and don't concentrate the sunlight as needed.  A clear plastic bottle or bag filled with water (or urine) can also work.  You can also polish the bottom of an aluminum soda or beer can to make a parabolic reflector. The most publicized version of this used chocolate as the polishing agent, but you might do it with toothpaste or something else that contains a fine grain polishing agent. BTW, don't eat the chocolate after using it to polish the can.   Really clear ice might act as a lens, but most ice contains contaminates that scatter the light instead of focusing it.

A "Dakota fire pit" is a good way to build an efficient cooking fire.   Essentially it consists of a main fire pit about 1' across and 8-10" deep with a small tunnel from the bottom extending out a foot or so at 45 degrees on the upwind side to provide draft.   The pit concentrates the heat and the tunnel draws air from the bottom of the pit to fan the flames to create a very hot fire for cooking.  Because it is mostly beneath ground level, a Dakota fire pit is not very good for warming people around it.   However, if there is any need for concealment, as can happen in military situations, being below ground is a good thing since it reduces visibility that might reveal your position.  Here is a really good article on survival fires and especially the Dakota Fire pit.  If you use a Dakota Fire Pit for cooking and personal warmth you may need to have a separate signal fire ready to light when rescuers approach.

Signal fires may be one exception to building a larger fire than you need to keep you warm.   A larger fire will be easier for rescuers to see at night and will last longer should you fall asleep and can't keep feeding it.  However, large fires consume a lot of fuel and it will take a lot of your energy to keep feeding it.  It is a good idea to build up a large wood pile nearby when you need to feed a signal fire.  During daytime you will need green boughs or leaves to create extra smoke to make it easier for searchers to find you.

Another exception to the small fire rule is when it is raining or snowing.  In cases of heavy rain or snow, a large fire has a better chance of lasting out the storm.   Using a large punky log that will burn slowly or piling on a bunch of dried cattle dung are also ways to keep it smoldering, even in a downpour.  You may need a large fire to sustain you through the night too or as a signal fire.   For signaling, a large column of smoke is going to be more visible than a fire during the day, so have some green or damp branches or boughs or grass or big chuck of punky wood on hand to increase the smoke when needed.   Dried cow manure or "buffalo chips" is also works well to keep a smoldering fire.  Survivalists sometimes use this trick to transport fire from one site to another, by making a "fire bundle", wrapping the smoldering manure in green leaves or wet leather.

Urban survival, that is, being in a survival situation at home, may require fires for outdoor cooking or for emergency heat.  Certainly having a wood-burning fireplace or wood stove will give you useful options for keeping your family and your home warm in cold weather if utilities are out . If you don't have a supply of firewood you may have to resort to burning books or furniture.  Sacrificing that Chippenddale table would be a shame, but it sure beats freezing to death!   I enjoyed the scene in the movie, "The Day After Tomorrow" when the kids discovered there was a whole shelf of tax law books they could burn in the library fireplace instead of the classics to keep from freezing to death.  Good choice!  If you are in freezing weather, keeping the interior of your home above 32°F is critical to avoid pipes from freezing.  If utilities are out, you may need to cook outdoors.  An easy and often readily available solution is your portable back yard BBQ.  Built in BBQs or others connected to natural gas won't be working if the gas is shut off.  Do you have a place in your backyard where you can build a campfire?  If not, you might want to look into to making one so you have a place to build a cooking fire during any long term outages.  If you're at home you will probably have access to matches and/or lighters if you're at all prepared -- at least for a while.  If you don't have a significant cache you may run out before utilities are restored and may have to resort to flint and steel or rubbing two sticks together.

For long term survival, like you might experience in disaster situation, a "rocket stove" might be helpful.  They can be made from many readily available materials.  Search for "rocket stove plans" using your favorite Internet search engine.  Here are videos for making rocket stoves from several different kinds of materials.  A really easy and inexpensive version can be made from a #10 can and 4 soup cans . You can cook an entire meal for 4 people just a handful of twigs.

NEVER use open fires or even hibatchis, propane BBQs or camp stoves indoors.  Is isn't safe! There are special indoor propane heaters, like the "Buddy Heater", that you can use indoors safely, but units not rated for indoor use can be lethal.   Even if a stove doesn't put out toxic fumes, which most do, it will consume oxygen and, without proper ventilation, you will suffocate.  This has happened even to experienced campers who knew better but forgot when they set up a tent heater in a closed camper.

Survival fires serve many purposes.   Obvious uses are to keep you warm, purify water, and cook your food.  Keeping wild animals away is also a widely recognized function of fire.  Signalling is also a frequent and effective use of fire in a survival situation.   Less obvious, but more important than most people realize, is the psychological effect of fire on people in a survival situation. Remember, your attitude is the single most significant factor in your survival.   Fire can help you maintain a positive attitude.   Fire improves your comfort, safety, and state of mind.  Firelight helps us control the irrational fears that can set in when we're alone in the dark.  Remember the monsters in the closet or under the bed when you were a kid?  Figure they're about 10 times scarier (even to grownups) in a survival situation.   Every sound, every shadow, appears to be a threat.

Survival fire safety.   Just because you're in survival mode doesn't mean you can ignore fire safety rules.   In fact, it will behoove you to be especially careful with your survival fire.   The last thing you need is to turn your survival environment into a raging inferno.   It will no doubt attract lots of attention, but you are likely to perish long before any potential rescuers can get close enough to even know you're there.  Always follow standard fire safety rules.  Make sure you clear the ground of combustible materials for at least 5' around your fire as well as beneath it.  Make sure there are no overhanging branches that could catch fire.  Don't build a fire bigger than is necessary.  A small fire is usually adequate for cooking.   A medium sized fire may be needed for warmth, depending on weather conditions and the number of people you need to keep warm.  Large fires might be needed for signally, but making even signal fires too big only wastes fuel -- and your energy collecting it.  Be careful where you build your fire.   Even Suvivorman Les Stroud managed to set his driftwood shelter on fire in one episode.  Building fires in caves may seem practical, but the heat can cause the overhead rocks to expand and possible crack and fall on you, especially if you're in a small cave with a low ceiling.   Better to build the fire outside and let it warm you and the cave slowly and indirectly.  Sometimes building a fire in a cave might be the sensible thing to do.  Getting your fire out of the rain may be essential to keeping it going.  Having a fire in a cave can provide a warm environment for you and your companions.  Don't build a big fire that touches the walls or ceiling as that may increase the risk of cracking the rock around you.  Heat up some softball sized rocks to put in your bedding to help keep you warm at night.  They are especially comforting as foot warmers, but putting one in each arm pit and between your thighs might warm the rest of your body more quickly.  Just don't get them TOO hot!  You want to place them close to major arteries (like the femoral artery in your thighs) where they can warm the blood so it warms other parts of the body.  Holding warm stones in your hands for a while can help thaw frozen fingers and restore mobility you might need for survival tasks.  Another trick for warming cold hand is to clamp them in  your armpits or between your thighs.

Light up!