How to Build Wilderness Fire

Video Transcript

Hi. This is David Jackel on behalf of Expert Village. And, I'm here to talk to you about building and maintaining a fire if you get lost when you're hiking. Now, fire is very useful for several reasons. First of all, it's going to keep you warm. And, second of all, it can be used to cook food, boil water, all kinds of other important stuff that you'll need if you're going to survive up there in the mountains. But, before you build a fire, there are a couple of things you have to do. The first one besides finding firewood is to make sure that you have a place where you can properly build a fire. That means a place that's relatively clear of vegetation. Otherwise, it's going to spread. And, a place that's relatively level so that you can control the fire better. Now, once you've scouted out a location, it's time to get firewood. Obviously, you're going to want to be in a place that has trees if you're going to want to find firewood. But, what you're looking for in firewood are different kinds of branches. You want small twigs that you're going to use to start the fire, really small ones, those are the kindling. That's what you use at the very beginning. Then, you want some medium size branches that are going to be used to help build up the fire. And then, you want some logs that you can use to keep the fire going for a long period of time. Now, unless you're carrying an ax with you, it's going to be hard to get these. So, what you do is go into heavily wooded areas where trees have already fallen down on their own ending the need for you to go down there and hack them down. If you go to a place like that, anytime a storm hits, usually some branches are on the ground. You can find a whole bunch of branches of different sizes. You can just break them all off. And, you'll probably find some logs, too. Although, it may take you some time to rip them from the ground. Now, of course, you want the wood to be dry. Otherwise, it's not going to burn very easily. So, look for wood that's dry. If all you can find is wet wood, then you've got to keep it out in the sun for a while until it dries off. The next thing you have to do is build your fire. You start by assembling lots of kindling together. And then, you build a pyramid around it first with small twigs, then with larger ones, then with some branches. Once you have a nice pyramid, then you can put a log or two around it. And, once a fire's going, that's when you add more logs. So, at this point, you don't want to worry about that. Then, what you have to do is light the fire. Now, if you have matches with you, you're in good shape. But, if you don't have matches, you're going to have to rub some sticks together for a while until you've got a flame going. Once you have that fire going, keep it going. Because you never know when you'll have difficulty in the future getting the fire started. So, continue to feed the fire and build it. But, keep a close eye on it. If you're traveling with a group, then you want to keep the fire going constantly. If you're completely by yourself, it might make sense to actually put the fire out if you're not using it. Because then, the fire can get out of control if you're not watching it. As much as you want to stay warm, you also don't want to have to deal with a forest fire.

Watch these related videos

• 
  How to Build Wilderness Fire

  playlist Views: 651

• 
  Wood Sizing: How to Build a Fire

  playlist Views: 1,179

• 
  How to Start a Fire

  playlist Views: 870

• 
  How to Find Firewood in the Mountains

  playlist Views: 709

• 
  How to Use Kindling to Start a Fire

  playlist Views: 1,045

• 
  Tee Pee Style: How to Build a Fire

  playlist Views: 3,822

Community Members who...

• Favorited this Video
• Rated This Video

Thumbs up or Thumbs down? Be the first to rate this video!

Top Tags