Thursday 23 March 2017

Fire, Fire!

Just as I found a great article this afternoon on how to lay your fire, I had a quick look on You-tube for a scout orientated video on how to actually light a fire. In  each case the information found is both informative & useful...


While we are taught how to light & lay the most basic fire in the video, produced by the  there are several more ways to lay your fire. Personally speaking I've tried each of the recommended ways but prefer the 'upside-down' or 'criss-cross' method where possible. Please understand that this is my personal preference and not a recommendation, but I'm also guessing that for every five scouters/fire-lighters you'll have as many preferences. I dare say that prevailing weather conditions dictate which style of fire building will be most useful.

Successful lighting of fire is a separate skill in its own right. When teaching the scouts of all ages always suggest that a fire is like a wild animal. Perhaps it's a dragon which needs feeding the right food to keep it alive! This is to say that once your tinder is lit, using whichever method it's important to select the right fuel to keep that flame alight...


So, let's assume that you've mastered this basic skill & lit your fire using tinder to catch the ember and ignite, what next? Your basic tools are small pieces of dried fuel, ie grass, dried plant stems, small twigs etc leading from fuel the size of a match stick, a child's little finger, larger twigs the size of an adult's index finger and so on until eventually you're using logs the breadth of your wrist and larger. If the right sized fuel is used and placed with care you're onto a winner, if not your fire will soon smother and peter out hence the analogy of feeding an animal! Feed it the wrong food & it's going to die...

Lots of adults will argue that their method of building a fire is the right way and that it's the only way! As I said earlier there are numerous ways of laying the fire, it's up to you to choose which way suits your needs the best! Check out this article for five different ways and then find out which way suits you the best by practicing, practicing & more practicing and soon you'll be an expert...

Please note that this is good advice offered by Calum Sloan  but it's not an endorsement of his company or the products sold. I'm sure this is just one of many and that you'll find lots of similar articles available on the internet and videos on You Tube if you do a google search

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