Starting a Fire

When to use this

After the safety check is done and you have water and a tool ready.

• First fire of the trip
• Re-lighting after rain
• Teaching a kid to start one

See it done

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What you need

• Tinder (dry leaves, birch bark, dryer lint, or a fire starter cube)
• Kindling (pencil-thin to thumb-thick dry twigs)
• Fuel wood (wrist-thick split logs)
• Long lighter or stormproof matches

Step by step

1. 1.Place a loose handful of tinder in the center of the fire ring.
2. 2.Build a small teepee of pencil-thin kindling over the tinder, leaving a gap on the upwind side.
3. 3.Light the tinder through the upwind gap. Don’t blow yet — let it catch.
4. 4.When the kindling catches, gently blow at the base of the flames. Add slightly larger kindling as it grows.
5. 5.Once you have steady flames the size of your hand, add a wrist-thick split log across the kindling teepee.
6. 6.Wait until the log is fully burning before adding the next. Patience here saves you 20 minutes of frustration.

Pro tips

• Wet weather: split kindling exposes dry wood inside even soaked sticks. The outside is wet; the inside is fine.
• Always lay tinder and kindling first, then strike a match. Trying to light tinder while the kindling sits unbuilt wastes matches.

Common mistakes

• Skipping straight from tinder to fuel logs. Without kindling, the fire smothers.
• Packing the tinder too tight — fire needs air more than it needs material.

Analog companion

Prefer the full landing page first? See the fire-starting checklist.