Learn how-to-start-a-fire

Let's learn how-to-start-a-fire. You might be thinking, how hard could it be to light a match and get wood to burn? Right? Under normal recreation camping conditions, it is easy to start a fire.

This page deals with the basics of building recreational campfires in a designated firepit.
I would hazard to guess that every adult has started some type of fire at least once in their life. Even lighting a candle counts as fire. However, getting a fire going is sometimes hard to do. If your firewood is too green or wet, it won't burn. If you add the larger pieces too soon, they can extinguish the fire.
Let's learn the basics of gathering wood, arranging the wood and lighting the fire.

Tinder- Collecting tinder is the first step in how-to-start-a-fire. Tinder is very small and very dry. Dead twigs that snap crisply and are not larger in diameter than wooden stick matches work great. Also, dry grass, dry dead pine needles, abandoned animal nests, dry tree moss work great.
If you have paper of some sort (not toilet paper as it tends to take 'flight') you can wad up the paper into a loose ball and pile the tinder on and around the paper. If your tinder is dry enough, you won't need any paper.
Next you'll need kindling. Kindling is dry twigs the diameter of a pencil and smaller. Lean a few of the thinest pieces of kindling over the tinder pile, forming a tee-pee structure. Have your remaining kindling ready to add once the fire takes hold.
You fuel wood is the larger pieces that will only be placed on the fire once it is crackling and burning the kindling hot.
Fuel wood can be gathered near trees and streams where willows grow. The diameter should be up to the diameter of your wrist. Any larger, and you'll need a hatchet or axe to break it apart. Place your fuel wood near your fire pit.

Lighting the fire

There are many kinds of ways of how-to-start-a-fire. Matches, lighters, magnesium sticks, flint and steel, and so on. My personal favorite for recreational camping is wooden stick matches. They work great if there isn't any significant wind to blow them out. They also add to the tinder by burning longer than paper matches.
Light the match and direct the flame to the lowest part of the tinder or if you used paper, the paper closest to the ground. Flame reaches up, not down. So it only makes sense to place the flame near the ground and let it reach up to the tinder and kindling.
You may need to block the wind with your body, or with a paper plate. Once the flame takes hold of the tinder and is growing, place a few more pieces of kindling around the perimeter, leaning on the existing pieces of kindling.
The fire should be starting to crackle and pop. If it is not, your wood may be too wet. If you are seeing more smoke than flame, try fanning the fire gently with a paper plate. Direct the wind to the bottom of the fire. If done properly, you'll see the red glow of the tinder. This helps the fire burn hotter, thus helping it burn the kindling.
Don't fret if your fire goes out before catching the kindling. Just try again. Replenish your tinder pile and try lighting it in a few different areas around the perimeter.

Once your fire takes hold of the kindling, keep placing pieces of kindling on the fire. The tee-pee form will fall once the tinder is all burned. It's ok. Just keep adding tinder in the tee-pee fashion, around the fire.
You can move up to the larger diameter pieces of wood once the heat of the fire forces you to move back from it and you hear pops and crackling.
Adding the larger fuel pieces and seeing that they are burning means that you have succeeded in building a campfire.
Congratulations! You've learned how-to-start-a-fire.

Camp fires are nostalgic and comforting. Once a fire has been started and is burning hot, it is easy to build and keep going. You'll be able to cook over the hot bed of coals, once the fire burns down. And later, you can build it back up and sit around the fire roasting marshmallows and relaxing.

Extinguishing the fire is very important. When you are breaking camp, never leave a smoldering fire. Even if it's in a designated pit, it can cause catastrophic damage if left unattended.
It doesn't hurt to bring along a couple of small fire extinguishers just in case the fire gets out of control
You should let your fire burn down to white ash before dowsing with water.
Douse with water and stir the embers with a stick. Keep dousing until the embers no longer smoke. The ash should be cool enough that you can place your had over and not feel heat radiating from it.
Never touch the actual ash. White ash and water creates caustic lye. It can actually cause chemical burns on your skin. So don't touch and don't let children play with the cool ash.

There are different styles of fires. Different ways to arrange the wood to create a designer fire. These fires have purposes and uses that differ. The fire building method you've just learned about is a basic recreational campfire.
Large congregational bonfires usually use the log cabin design. This design burns bright, hot and for a long duration. Perfect for gatherings, meetings, devotionals and so on.
Backwoods camp fires are another kind of fire and special considerations must be taken when building one to reduce impact to the environment and to prevent forest fires.
Survival fires are the kind that are needed to sustain life or ward off hypothermia.

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