A couple of days ago Louise asked a question about starting fires in windy, damp conditions. Well Louise, you’re not alone, these are the most difficult conditions under which to start a fire and challenging to even the most experienced pyro pros.
Preparation is key here. I suggest that anyone traveling in the outdoors, assemble a fire starting kit. This should be a component of a more complete survival kit, which I’ll be discussing in a separate post. The kit should contain the following items.
- Three reliable ignition sources. These items may include waterproof matches in a waterproof container, wind and waterproof matches, metal sparking tools, and lighters. Redundancy is important because it provides a backup method in the event that a particular method fails. Your life may depend on these backups.
- Dry tinder is vital in your efforts to create any fire, but is especially critical when staring a fire in difficult conditions. Always carry a small amount of dry tinder in your fire kit. Tinder should be completely dry and ready for use. Materials that make good tinder are barks, dry grasses, weed tops, and plant fibers. Animal nests can even be used when available. Inner bark of aspen, cottonwood, juniper, cedar, sagebrush, down from milkweed and cattail and other similar materials make high quality tinder. Lint from clothing also works. Transform these raw materials into premium tinder by twisting and rubbing the material against itself until it becomes light and feathery. Place the prepared tinder in a waterproof bag or container. A great high tech tinder to carry is steel wool. The thickness of steel wool is listed in zeros. The more zeros the finer the material. The range that works best for fires is 000 – 00000.
- Fire starting aids should be a part of the kit as well. These items are easy to ignite and will burn longer. They help to ignite other natural materials that may be damp. Damp materials need longer exposure to heat before they will ignite. The heat must drive the moisture from the material before it is able to ignite and burn. Items that can help accomplish this are old candle stubs, cotton balls saturated with petroleum jelly, or wax impregnated cardboard. Several commercial products are also available for this at outdoor stores.
If you don’t have dry tinder in your fire kit, look for dry materials under logs, on the underside of leaning trees, at the base of large clumps of grass and brush, beneath the lower branches of conifer trees, and any location that is naturally protected from the elements. Search for materials that are small in diameter (about the thickness of a sewing needle. Drying of damp materials can be hastened by placing them between layers of clothing.
Build the fire in a location that is protected from wind and weather. Watch out for snow that may fall from overhead branches and bows. Shake the branches free of snow before you start the fire. You may need to build a small windbreak from logs, dirt, snow, or rocks on the windward side of the fire location. Collect plenty of tinder, kindling and firewood before you begin. Arrange small kindling in a loose tipi framework and place more material on the frame until loosely covered. Leave an opening at the base for the ignited tinder. The kindling should be arranged very low to the ground so that the flames from the ignited tinder make contact with the kindling. Place yourself between the fire and the wind and begin lighting the fire
My final advice in the fire building process is to never give up. Sometimes, even with proper preparation and experience, fires are difficult to build. Continue the attempt, making adjustments where necessary until you are successful.
Wow! I didn’t expect such a thorough response. Your info. is very helpful. I guess I’ll just have to prepare better and practice more. Thank you.