Survival guides · Shelter & Fire

Start a Fire — Matches or Lighter

WHEN TO USE THISFor warmth, boiling water, cooking or signaling.

1. Gather three sizes

   • Tinder — catches the flame: dry grass, bark shavings, paper, lint, cotton.
   • Kindling — pencil-thin dry sticks.
   • Fuel — wrist-thick and up.
   • All of it dry. Gather 3× more than you think.

2. Build a tepee

   
   • Tinder in the middle.
   • Lean kindling around it in a cone.
   • Leave a gap on the windward side to reach in and light it.
   • Keep it loose — fire needs room for air.

3. Light it

   • Block the wind with your body.
   • Light the tinder at the bottom.
   • Blow gently at the base.
   • Add kindling a little at a time — don't smother it.
   • Kindling burning steadily (3–5 min)? Fuel, one piece at a time.

4. Tend it, then kill it

   • Feed it steadily; don't overload.
   • Stack fuel nearby to dry. Wet wood? Split it — the inside is dry.
   • Never leave it unattended.
   • Put it out: spread the embers, drown, stir, drown again — until cold to the touch.

Sources: US Army FM 3-05.70 Survival · National Park Service Fire Safety

General information to help in an emergency — not a substitute for training or professional care.