Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Types of fire
You can build a fire for three reasons: for fun, for
cooking, and for survival. If you're cooking, you need
hearth stones (support rocks) to prop up a fire grate
or grill. You'll need three kinds of material to burn:
• Tinder
can be bits of dry grass, or thin twigs, birch bark,
or even pine cones; anything dry and thin. Alternatively,
you can use commercial fire starter, or bits of newspaper.
• Kindling
will be thicker twigs, and should be dry. Look
out for dead twigs caught on branches, which will be drier
still. Look for dead twigs on downed trees only. Never
break branches, even twigs, off of living trees. The same
goes for still-standing dead or diseased trees. These twigs
are useful to birds. Thick cardboard also works.
• Firewood
should be thicker sticks and logs that will take
a long time to burn through.
Build your own
You don't have to build a
recognized type of fire. You
can just start with some
small stuff and build it up
from there. But here are four
types of fire that bushcraft
experts recommend.
The teepee Take a kindling branch,
with some good twig stubs, drive it
into the ground and arrange other
sticks around it, propping them
against the central stick to form a
teepee shape. Leave a gap to push
tinder in. This one produces heat and
embers quickly so you could use it
for cooking too.
