Guide · Fire

Tinder, kindling and fuel

A good fire is built in stages, from tiny material that catches a spark up to logs that burn for hours. Gather everything before you strike a match — most fires fail because people run out of the next size up.

Tinder

Tinder is fine, dry, fluffy material that catches a flame or spark easily. You need a double handful.

Good natural tinder:

• Dry grass and dead bracken.
• Birch bark — it contains oils and will burn even when damp.
• The papery inner bark of dead trees, shredded and rubbed between your hands.
• Thistle down, reed heads and similar fluff.
• Pine needles and resin-rich wood shavings.
• Fine wood shavings scraped from a dry stick.

Good things to carry:

• Cotton wool smeared with petroleum jelly.
• Wax-based firelighters.
• Dryer lint, paper or cardboard.

Keep tinder dry in a bag or pocket until you need it.

Kindling

Kindling takes the small flame from tinder and makes it bigger. Collect a good armful, in a range of sizes:

• From matchstick-thin twigs,
• up to pencil-thick,
• up to about thumb-thick.

The best kindling is dead twigs still attached to trees, off the ground. They should snap cleanly. If they bend, they're too wet or still alive.

Fuel

Fuel is the larger wood that keeps the fire going. Start with wrist-thick sticks, then move to larger pieces once the fire is established.

• Collect dead, fallen wood or standing dead branches.
• Split larger pieces if you can: the inside is drier than the outside.
• Softwoods like pine burn fast and hot, good for getting going. Hardwoods like oak and beech burn longer and leave good embers.
• Gather more than you think you'll need. For a night, you'll need several large armfuls.

Building it up

1. Place a bundle of tinder on dry ground or on a base of sticks.
2. Lean the thinnest kindling around it like a small tent, leaving a gap on the side facing the wind to light it.
3. Light the tinder at the bottom.
4. As each layer catches, add the next size up. Don't rush — adding big wood too soon smothers the flames.
5. Once you have a good bed of glowing embers, add fuel a few pieces at a time.

Things not to burn

• Plastics, painted or treated wood — they give off toxic fumes.
• Green, living wood, which smokes and spits.
• Poisonous plants you can't identify — smoke from some can harm your lungs.
• Stones from rivers or wet places near the fire, which can crack or burst when heated.

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