🔥 Lighting and controlling a fire
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Fire needs three things: fuel, oxygen and heat. If one is missing, it goes out.
Open the guide in the app (works offline)Step by step
- Before lighting, prepare three piles: tinder (what catches from a spark: cotton balls with petroleum jelly, thin bark, very dry grass), pencil-thin kindling and thicker wood.
- Make a dry base: on wet ground or snow, lay down a platform of sticks first.
- Light the tinder, add kindling a little at a time without smothering it and, once it's burning well, the wood.
- With a ferro rod: scrape the rod firmly toward the tinder, holding the striker still and pulling the rod back.
- Put it out completely with water and stir the embers until they're cold to the touch.
Safety
- In many places, lighting fires outdoors is banned during the fire season, and in some areas all year round: check the local rules first.
- Never light a fire inside a home, a tent or any enclosed space: carbon monoxide kills without warning.
Source: Regional fire prevention rules; CDC (carbon monoxide)