Fire is a critical part of wilderness survival. In fact, in a wilderness survival situation, only shelter can be regarded as equal in priority. The truth is, fire gives you warmth and provides signal to rescuers. Not only that, it provides an effective means to disinfect water and cook food. There is no getting around it, a requirement for survival is fire.
So, imagine for a moment, that you happen to be faced with a survival situation. Maybe you have wandered off a hiking trail by accident. Or maybe you followed your car's turn by turn GPS directions, which led you all over hell's 90 acres down some dusty unimproved and virtually impassable mountain road where you got your rusty, front wheel drive sub-compact stuck in a mud bog. Perhaps the end-of-days doomsayers are actually right this time and civil unrest has made it necessary for you to hike on foot, away from roads and highways, to your crazy Uncle Larry's bomb shelter in the forests of northern Washington (funny how crazy Uncle Larry turned out the be the sane one). Take whichever scenario you like,, there is no substitute for having proper fire-making tools stowed in your survival pack. So, what tools for making fire should you make sure to add in your ongoing survival list? Let's consider a few options.
Waterproof matches - The old-school, no-frills, tried and true box of matches. They're affordable, simple to use, and ultra lightweight. Make sure you have multiple boxes, tuck them in your pack and then forget about them until you need to make a fire.
Waterproof lighter - Like the aforementioned matches, a lighter's biggest benefit is that you already know how to use it. Not only that, it is relatively effective, and quite easy to lug around. There's no reason not to have a handful of them packed. If you don't want to pay for a fancy waterproof model, just get a few ziplock baggies, throw some plain old Bic lighters in, and stow it away.
Now let's move on to some more complex, but far more intriguing methods for producing fire...
Fire piston - A fire piston operates by inserting a tiny piece of flammable material into a tube-like cylinder. You then rapidly plunge the cylinder into an airtight chamber. The air in the cylinder gets compressed super quickly, which generates enough heat to ignite the tinder, which you can place in a larger bundle of tinder to start a fire. A good fire piston is waterproof and virtually indestructible.
Flint and steel - This reliable means for starting a fire consists of obtaining flammable powder from a small block of flint, then igniting the powder with a spark (also generated from the flint). The burning powder will generate a lot of heat, and as long as it's surrounded by the proper amount of dry tinder, you'll have a fire in no time.
Lastly, unless you're very, very good at making fires, your survival list should contain starter materials, like pre-packaged tinder, or compressed wax and woodchip fire starting sticks. These items make starting a fire a no-brainer and are available dirt cheap from just about any outdoor sporting goods store.
Also, it should be noted that carrying multiple, redundant ways of starting a fire is highly advisable. It's just too easy to drop a lighter only to have it covered by leaves and lost forever. Don't go into nature without at least two means of making fire with three to four being ideal.
So, imagine for a moment, that you happen to be faced with a survival situation. Maybe you have wandered off a hiking trail by accident. Or maybe you followed your car's turn by turn GPS directions, which led you all over hell's 90 acres down some dusty unimproved and virtually impassable mountain road where you got your rusty, front wheel drive sub-compact stuck in a mud bog. Perhaps the end-of-days doomsayers are actually right this time and civil unrest has made it necessary for you to hike on foot, away from roads and highways, to your crazy Uncle Larry's bomb shelter in the forests of northern Washington (funny how crazy Uncle Larry turned out the be the sane one). Take whichever scenario you like,, there is no substitute for having proper fire-making tools stowed in your survival pack. So, what tools for making fire should you make sure to add in your ongoing survival list? Let's consider a few options.
Waterproof matches - The old-school, no-frills, tried and true box of matches. They're affordable, simple to use, and ultra lightweight. Make sure you have multiple boxes, tuck them in your pack and then forget about them until you need to make a fire.
Waterproof lighter - Like the aforementioned matches, a lighter's biggest benefit is that you already know how to use it. Not only that, it is relatively effective, and quite easy to lug around. There's no reason not to have a handful of them packed. If you don't want to pay for a fancy waterproof model, just get a few ziplock baggies, throw some plain old Bic lighters in, and stow it away.
Now let's move on to some more complex, but far more intriguing methods for producing fire...
Fire piston - A fire piston operates by inserting a tiny piece of flammable material into a tube-like cylinder. You then rapidly plunge the cylinder into an airtight chamber. The air in the cylinder gets compressed super quickly, which generates enough heat to ignite the tinder, which you can place in a larger bundle of tinder to start a fire. A good fire piston is waterproof and virtually indestructible.
Flint and steel - This reliable means for starting a fire consists of obtaining flammable powder from a small block of flint, then igniting the powder with a spark (also generated from the flint). The burning powder will generate a lot of heat, and as long as it's surrounded by the proper amount of dry tinder, you'll have a fire in no time.
Lastly, unless you're very, very good at making fires, your survival list should contain starter materials, like pre-packaged tinder, or compressed wax and woodchip fire starting sticks. These items make starting a fire a no-brainer and are available dirt cheap from just about any outdoor sporting goods store.
Also, it should be noted that carrying multiple, redundant ways of starting a fire is highly advisable. It's just too easy to drop a lighter only to have it covered by leaves and lost forever. Don't go into nature without at least two means of making fire with three to four being ideal.
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