It does not matter at all whether you plan to go on a three-day hike , or just want to spend a few hours with friends in nature, the first thing to learn is how to properly light a bonfire. On how quickly and correctly you will be able to light a fire in the forest, it may depend not only on your health, but also on safety.
Step one - choose a place for a fire
No matter how great the temptation to make a fire in the first place, it is still unreasonable to do so. The place for the fire must meet the following requirements:
- be sheltered from wind and rain;
- be remote from crowns of coniferous trees and areas with dry grass, and also in the distance peat bogs;
- be at least three meters from the lee on the leeward side.
Step two - prepare a place for the fire
When a suitable place is chosen, it must be prepared in a certain way:
- clean the area of 100-150 mm in diameter from dry leaves, grass and other easily burning debris;
- remove the top layer of the earth and overlay the bottom of the resulting pit with stones;
- in the winter, clear the snow.
Step Three - prepare fuel for the fire
That the fire turned out correct: it was a good warm, long burned and did not smoke, fuel for it also needs to be chosen correctly:
- dry branches of deciduous trees burn long and practically do not smoke, but in the raw form on the contrary they give smoke much more than heat;
- branches from oak or hornbeam are ideal for cooking, since they have dense and heavy wood, which burns for a long time (up to two hours) and gives a lot of heat;
- Only very dry coniferous logs can be used for a fire, but remember that they burn well, but they give a lot of sparks and smoke;
- very fine dry brushwood can be used only as a kindling, as it burns almost instantly;
- in places where trees are rare, you can use dried animal droppings and peat as fuel.
Step Four - add and light a fire
So, all the preliminary stages have been completed: a suitable place has been found and prepared, a sufficient amount of dry brushwood has been collected. Now we need to properly put the fire and manage to ignite it, which, as you know, is not so simple, especially in the rain.
The most simple, both in stowage and in kindling, bonfires such as "Shalash" or "Well", firewood in which are laid in a house or in the form of a log house. The kindling in such bonfires is placed at the bottom between the logs and thanks to the good access of oxygen it quickly and actively flares up. Bonfire type "Nodja" ignite without pre-training is already more difficult, because it uses thick logs, and kindling is located between them. As a kindling, it is better to use birch bark, as it has the property to remain practically dry even during the rain, but if birch bark is not at hand, moss, a bunch of dry grass, needles or bark of coniferous trees will do. In case you have to light a fire in the rain, it is better to take several dry alcohol tablets or a special
To kindle a kindling is more convenient than usual matches. Since they have the property of dampening, when gathering in the trek, you need to provide for them a separate waterproof packaging. If the matches are still damp, then the fire can be lit with a magnifier, glass from a clock or other transparent object, which can be used as a lens. Focused by such a lens, the sunbeam should be directed to any flammable material, for example, a handful of bird fluff or pine bark. When there is a flame it is necessary to set fire to a small triangular piece of birch bark, and already with its help to light a fire.