There’s More Than One Way to Start a Fire
The importance of fire during an emergency or survival situation cannot be overstated. It can be used for cooking, providing warmth, purifying water, signaling your location, sterilizing cooking or medical utensils, providing light to read by, drying wet clothing, or just serving as a source of comfort.
We all know how important fire is, and much has written about many ways to make fire using primitive methods, including using chocolate and a soda can. Personally, I’m not nearly as concerned about TEOTWAWKI as I am about more mundane emergency situations. You know, things like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, chemical spills, or even snow and ice storms. Maybe even getting stuck in your car in a remote location. Odds are you will suffer from one of these rather than being caught up in a massive governmental collapse type of event.
As anyone that has tried to light a fire outdoors can tell you, it can be tricky. Even if the best of tinder and wood it can take multiple matches and a lot of time to really get a fire going. Add in some wind or less than ideal materials and it can be downright frustrating.
Even if you’re using a lighter or matches, as opposed to more difficult methods, there are a lot of things you can do to make it easier. If you are relying on sparks or focused sunlight or friction to start a fire, these tips can make all the difference.
Lots of stuff will burn, and burn better than just paper or sticks. Things that you’ve already got with you. Here’s a list of things that you can add to your tinder to get it to light easier and burn longer:
- Chapstick. Rub it on the material you’re trying to light.
- Vaseline. It’s like chapstick only softer. Smear it on.
- Bug spray or other sprays. Many sprays contain flammable solvents. Don’t just assume that what you have will burn well, test it. You don’t want to ruin your tinder with something that won’t burn.
- The same holds for many lotions and medications. My anti-itch cream is mostly alcohol and petroleum products.
- Oily foods, such as corn chips.
- The powder from a 22 cartridge. Use just your bare hands to remove the bullet from a 22 round. Wiggle it back and forth and you’ll be able to remove it. DON’T USE TOOLS to do this! The risk of it going off is too great.
- Hand sanitizer. It’s just alcohol gel and burns well.
If you’re stuck in your car, or have access to a car, there are several things you can use to get a fire going quickly. Obviously, gasoline comes to mind. However, it can be difficult to get gas out of the tank or even gas lines. If you can, though, it’s a classic and works very well. Other vehicular fluids will also burn very well. Transmission fluid, brake fluid, and engine oil are excellent for this. A real easy way to get some of these is to use the dipsticks. Just pull it out and wipe the fluid onto a cloth or piece of paper. Do it more than once if necessary.
Many of the things I’ve listed are dangerously flammable. Never add them to a fire that’s already going. You can easily burn yourself and spread a fire to places where you don’t want it.
If you want to use sunlight to light a fire (via a magnifying glass, water balloon, ice ball, or the polished bottom of a soda can) you will really want to use one of the listed items to encourage the fire to start and also do it in the middle of the day. The lower the angle of the sun in the sky, the more difficult it is to start a fire using the sun. Since many of the reasons you want to have a fire are more important at night, this means you will have to maintain and constantly watch the fire for a long time before you really need it. This may be time when you should be doing other things, like building shelter or gathering water or food. One of those little credit card sized magnifying lenses make a good addition to your kits, but realize they have their limitations. Just having a cloudy day can make them worthless.
If you need to light a fire, give yourself all the help you can. There is no such thing as cheating in an emergency.