THE FIRE MAKING
CALLING FOR NATURE’S REINFORCEMENT IN WILDERNESS
Many would laugh it out but one day they might agree to the fact that fire making is one of the most essential skills one needs to learn, and that too from an early age.
Part of the world that I live in, Pakistan so to say, parents have a tendency of not letting their children close to fire or even indoor heaters for that matter. Hence that fear of getting burned grows as the children grow. They only see fire as a destructive form of nature, something that has the ability to burn and destroy only. Rubbish I must say. If God created fire, it’s for a reason and for the benefit of humans.
Any way the reason I am writing this article is my core belief that fire making is a profound skill that which if you don’t master, you might not survive at all at some point in your life. Just because you were ignorant enough not to learn it! And for those of you, who have this tiny spark of outdoors, no way can you survive the rigors of nature if you don’t know how to make a fire.
Well, if you have reached this far in the article, let me confess that I am in no way a master in fire making but I think I have lit fire on most days of my life for many different reasons under different conditions. Even in the harshest of summers under the burning sun.
So fire making yeah, is an art that involves some primary level science too. And to be effective at this skill, you need to know the tiny secret that binds both of its science and art.
KEY INGREDIENTS OF FIRE MAKING
So imagine a time during your hike to Mount. Ragga Dagga (I wonder if it ever exists), and while you camped at an accidental campsite not included in your itinerary. Now time calls for reinforcement from nature so you can dry up your socks and shoes which are dripping wet while you crossed an unpredicted river. Imagine the gravity of situation. No uphill ventures unless you have a pair of dried socks and shoes first thing in the morning. Fire! And not the one that is made with a Butane stove you packed for frying marshmallows but the real deal.
The first thing you need is “Tinder”. Tinder can be best described as the smallest and thinnest combustible wood dry enough that can spark a fire when flame barely touches it.
WHERE TO FIND TINDER?
For “tinder” dry grass, dry leaves, tree fern or any fibrous bark would do the job. Even in heavy downpours, you can find tinder inside hollow logs and trees or underneath them – essentially places rain has not penetrated.
So with tinder in hand, now you need a small but relatively larger quantity of “kindling” – stuff that is about straw thickness or like small tiny branches of a bush or shrub but of course dry. Again it is desirable to collect such while on your way if you have a good idea of your next destination which may not have these. Otherwise, in a jungle environment, it may not be an issue.
WHERE TO FIND KINDLING?
Ussualy wood that is lying on the forest bed is too damp to light. You will need to look for twigs (small offshoots of shrubs or trees) that are hanging in the air particularly under some shelter. If nature is being hard on you and you don’t find any, you will need to split small branches to get that dry inner wood. Or otherwise, shave off the wet crust or surface to bring out the dry core.
The next in ingredients list, you will need some “starting wood”. As the name implies, this will be your fire starter wood. Unlike the previous two forms of dry materials, this will elongate your fire’s life. Starting wood is something starting from the thickness of a straw to that of a pencil or your finger. Having said that, now is the time you understand the science, art or the collectively the secret of fire making. The secret of lighting a fire is to place the smallest of stuff at the bottom while gradually increasing the diameter of stuff as you place it towards the top. You lit your fire incrementally, starting from the thinnest and gradually placing thicker wood to make fire sustainable and bigger.
WHERE TO FIND STARTING WOOD
Unlike the tinder and kindling, wood of this size is widely available and visibly located or scattered. However, ideally you should look for such wood in places where there are dry trees, termites ridden logs or even trees struck by thunder bolts.
Now you have the starting wood in hand, the next best thing you need, and that’s a life saver, is burning wood. And the amount you need is the amount as much you can find. The naked eye rule for burning wood would be from say the thickness of your wrist to that of your ankle, arm and even leg but again placed in incremental order as I mentioned earlier.
WHERE TO FIND BURINING WOOD
Exactly where you were able to find the starting wood.
REALITY CHECK
While you were successful in finding all the ingredients, all the hard work is of no use unless you have a match box, lighter or a magnesium fire starter rod with you. Without these, making a fire is a different level of art and science. I will post about that in my next article and by that time you keep on practicing this way.
Now is the time to put your skills to test. Place the Tinder on surface you want to make fire on. At this point you keep your Kindling ready by side. Place a handful of Tinder in your hand and above a few inches from the ground, lit your Tinder from below. As soon as its take the fire, gently put it on ground. You should feel like the fire is slowing down. That’s because it had a lot of aeration while it was in your hand and as soon as you put it on ground, the aeration channels were block by the ground. Don’t panic, immediately take some more Tinder and sprinkle it on top of the burning tinder. It’s a matter of feeling the fire. As soon as you feel like the tinder has started burning to its capacity, take your Kindling and place it above the fire one by one. I repeat, one by one. And in a fashion that does not block air from penetrating into the fire. While you place the kindle, it is also good to place some more tinder on top of it, so it takes heat from both sides.
THE TRICK
The trick here is to observe which of the kindling has taken the fire and started burning. You capitalize on that one and put a few kindling on that one. By that time another one might have taken the fire and you put a few more on that one. And that’s how you sustain the fire to the kindling’s capacity.
By this time, you kindling is burning to its capacity and now is time to bring in the Starting Wood. Exactly as you put your kindling, you put the starting wood on the fire. Slowly and capitalizing on the burning capacity of the kindling. As soon as one of the starting wood catches fire, you capitalize on that one and put a few more Starting wood on that one. Keep doing it unless you see them burning and cracking. Congratulations! You officially have a fire burning.
Now is the time to sustain your fire. Take the burning wood and place it atop the fire, again in an incremental and gradual manner. From this point onwards, you put your burning wood the moment you feel the fire is slowing down.
Now if you are in a place where it is raining every now and then, you should have all this material laid under a shelter. Your tent may be or a rock or leaning against and under the lea of a tree but not on the wet ground. At this point even if you have some wet wood that you picked up in your wood hunt earlier, encircle them all around the fire and it will be dry in no time. And yes, now is the time you can put your wet shoes and socks around the fire, the exact reason why you needed the fire. As a bonus, you can make coffee or whatever to celebrate a successful fire.