Light my fire

Fire. One of the most basic tools, and an ancient necessity for man since the, uh, invention of fire. Yeah. We have used it to keep warm, cook, ward off bugs, and scare away predators. We have attacked each other with it, made war with it, and harnessed it to create more powerful weapons, and even motor driven machines. When you think about it, fire is pretty damned awesome, especially if you don't have it or know how to get it.
When primitive camping (tent, not RV or camper) or going on a survival trip, you will likely need and want a fire. For camping or survival, fire serves some basic purposes which are essential, in no particular order:
1. Warmth from the elements of cold and damp.
2. Light to see your environment.
3. Cooking food, boiling contaminated water.
4. Fire hardening or forging of basic tools: spears, frog gigs, arrows, etc.
5. Signaling for help through flame and smoke.
6. Acting as a pest deterrent through smoke and smells.
7. Protection from predators which fear fire. Can be used as a deterrent or weapon.

Didn't realize all that right up front, did ya? Had to ponder on it a spell, maybe even read the whole list before you got all that. Well, I'm not going to try and write the definitive article on fire here, but you get the idea. What I'm going to focus on right now, is how to start one. The easy ways. I'm not going to try to teach about fire-bows or any stick rubbing techniques, hell, I don't even know how to do any of that stuff well myself. We're going to keep it simple and low energy.

To successfully get a fire going, you are going to need 4 major components. First, a suitable site for the fire. Make sure you clear the area around the base of the fire with enough room to play, so that you don't send the rest of the area up in flames. If you can dig a pit or line it with stones, great. If not, just try to get a nice bare circle around the area. Next, you will need tinder, something to light up and get the fire going. Very dry, small, fibrous material works great for this. Old dried up bark, pine pitch or sap, cotton lint from the drier, cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly, even crumpled up newspaper are all great sources that will take a spark or flame well. Third, you will need fuel. Dry wood of various sizes, all the way up to the biggest logs you plan to use is the way to go. Lastly, you need an ignition source. Matches, fire steel, ferrous rods, cigarette lighters-anything that will make a spark or flame long enough to get the tinder going is what you want to look for.

One of the fire steel tools I use.

I start out with a pile of tinder, usually in size between a baseball and softball. I try to make a ball with a little bowl in it to catch the spark or flame. I try to get a bit of a teepee of kindling ready to nestle my tinder ball in, if I can. If not, I have a small pile of kindling, sticks and twigs, nearby to put on my tinder ball once it begins to flame up. I like using fire steel and ferrous rods mostly, because they are easy, primitive, almost foolproof, and can work when damp. Matches are great, but can be unreliable. I carry several different types of ignition and tinder with me, just in case. Once the tinder flames up, I start to pile on more kindling, slowly. Don't rush this part, as you will either suffocate the fire early, or burn up all your kindling too quick. Remember, it takes time to get a fire from a little bit of newspaper to engulfing a big log. Slowly add fuel, in larger sizes, until you begin to get to the large logs. Two or three big pieces are all you need at a time for a personal fire for one or two people. Just keep an eye on it, and add lumber as the fire starts to die down, but still has flames. If you try to add a log when you just have embers left you will be disappointed.

Nurse the fire throughout the night, but remember to stop feeding it before you plan to nod off if you don't trust that it will die out peacefully. You can, of course, always put the fire out with dirt, sand, or water. I prefer to let my fire start dying down to a bed of coals, maybe an hour before I hit the sack. I try to make one last check of the perimeter to make sure it won't get out of control in the middle of the night as well. Some folks like having a small fire with one or two good logs left burning as they go to bed for warmth. I prefer to let my clothes and bedding keep me warm, much less likely to melt the tent with me in it.