BUILDING A FIRE

Fire is perhaps the most important single factor in successful survival. Without it, you'll have a difficult time meeting your basic needs - heat - food - water.

When you are lost or confused, a fire will give you a psychological boost...help you relax, and provide company on a cold lonely night.

Fire is a great friend but it places an enormous responsibility on anyone using it in the wild. A small fire, improperly set, can spread quickly and soon a forest fire is burning out of control, causing additional problems to the person lost in the wilderness.

A good fire is not really all that hard to build, but you must know what it takes to do the job right.

The ideal camp fire site is on sandy soil or solid rock. Forest fire hazard is always present with fires on muskeg, dry grass, leaves, evergreen needles, or dead roots. A handy water supply or sand is useful for extinguishing flames.

If the ground is dry, scrape down to bare earth. In winter dig down to solid earth, trample the snow, or dig out an area around your shelter and fire area. If the snow is exceptionally deep a small fire may be maintained by lighting it on top of a layer of green logs.

Do not build a fire directly under a tree because of the danger of snow slides or igniting the dry humus and leaves.

click for Additional Fire Building Tips

The four most common mistakes people make when attempting to light a fire are:

• failure to shield the match or spark from the wind;
• poor selection of tinder and fuel;
• trying to light the fire from the downwind side;
• smothering the newly lit fire with too much fuel or pieces too large - cutting off the oxygen supply.

You will need to decide on the type of fire you want to build. What you are going to use the fire for usually determines the type.

After you are finished with your fire - MAKE SURE IT IS OUT!

BSA TROOP 23

•

B O Y   S C O U T S

O F   A M E R I C A

•

Great Barrington, MA