Make a fire like a pyromaniac

Make a fire like a pyromaniac. Fire was controlled by humans over a million years ago. Yet, the ability to make a fire has been lost to many in the modern world. Although we have several fire starting devices such as matches, lighters and piezo igniters, few people can light a fire quickly and ensure that it continues to burn effectively.

Darwin claimed that fire was one of Man’s greatest inventions.

Making a fire:

• Boosts morale
• Provides illumination.
• Creates warmth.
• Dries out wet objects.
• Can be used to purify water.

Fire has also assisted with providing the high quality diet which has increased humans’ brain size.

Use these 6 steps to light a fire under any conditions:

1. You only need 3 materials: tinder, kindling and fuel. They must all be dry and collected in sufficient amounts to start and sustain your fire.
2. Ensure that the ground or area that you are going to light your fire is safe. Never light a fire directly on the ground. Lay a platform of green wood. Contain the fire with a circle of other green wood or non-porous rocks.
3. Place your tinder ball (comprising dry and combustible man-made or natural material) on the platform and light it. Apart from matches and a lighter, there are many ways to create a spark and ignite your tinder. Attend one of our courses to find out how.
4. Once the tinder is lit, arrange small pieces of kindling on the burning tinder in the form of a teepee. This allows the fire to breathe and the kindling to burn.
5. As the fire catches and the kindling burns, add larger pieces of kindling to the fire. The burning kindling will fall into the centre and create a bed of embers. These embers will help ignite the new kindling added.
6. Once the fire is established and burning for 5 minutes or more, lay a small log on the wind-facing side and another log on the other side. Add more wood across the two logs to build a log cabin of fuel. The fire will now burn for as long as you supply wood. There are several types of fire you can build depending on your needs: a Dakota hole, automatic, snake hole, hunter or long log.

The Apaches, extraordinary fire makers on the North American plains, observed the difference between their fire control techniques and the Settlers. The Settlers built huge fires and sat away from the heat. The Apache built small fires and sat close to the heat. What type of sustainable firemaker are you?

To understand how to make a fire in any survival situation, attend a H.E.A.T. course.

To understand how you can be the best corporate sustainable firemaker, learn more at our website.