How to Build a Fire in the Wilderness

There's nothing like the cheering crackle of a camp fire to make a wilderness camp your home away from home. Making a fire that's safe and successful in the wilderness requires a little bit of forethought and a few simple skills. Master them and you'll be a woodsman of renown and a true steward of nature.

Things You'll Need

• Matches
• Wood
• Firestarter

Instructions

1. Select the spot for your fire. If possible, choose a spot that's already had a campfire, but if one isn't available, pick a spot that's away from trees and flammable underbrush. Clear the ground down to the dirt, and surround the area where you'll be building the fire with stones and rocks.

2. Collect wood. Do not cut down living trees for a campfire, but gather wood that's already dead and on the ground. When collecting your wood, you'll want a variety of small tinder and larger pieces. Keep your eye out for pine needles, dry bark, and other duff. This makes an excellent base for your fire.

3. Build the base for your fire. Gather as much of the small material, like pine needles and bark, as you can into a compact and compressed pile. Place it on the ground in the middle of your fire ring, and build a small "teepee" of thin sticks around it. Gather your other wood nearby, with a ready supply of small branches to add in when the fire begins.

4. Light the tinder with your match in the middle of your "teepee" of twigs. As the fire catches, feed in wood of progressively larger size until you have built a sustained fire of the size you like. When you're done with your fire, spread the ashes with a stick, and drown with water.

Tips & Warnings

• As an alternative to collecting bark and needles to start your fire, take a small bag of dryer lint with you when you go hiking. It's excellent for building fires.

• Be sure of regulations regarding woodland fires before you go on your trip.