Man’s Red Flower

You a fan of Disney’s Jungle Book?

You can’t survive without fire (and if I hope I don’t have to explain why), so you need several methods of starting one. One of America’s pre-eminent survivalists, Tom Brown, Jr., teaches seventeen different ways of starting fires in his classes. His books are interesting reading, and you can find a bunch of his articles online. Those water-proof, wind-proof, strike-anywhere matches sure are nifty, but you can buy a five-pack of Bic lighters for a dollar. That’ll give you between 5,000 and 7,500 fires, or a fire per day up to twenty years. Keep them wrapped up in a Ziploc bag, and you’re golden. Even if they do get wet, just wait until the flint dries out and they’ll work just fine. Again, though, that shouldn’t be your only method of starting a fire. Pack a small plastic magnifying glass, too, and/or a flint & steel striker. You can also buy small blocks of magnesium to use in wet weather. (You scrape flakes onto your pile of tinder; don’t throw the whole thing in there.) You might want to bone up on the old “rubbing two sticks together” method as well.

When Mrs. Cat and I watched Cast Away, I impressed her by critiquing Hanks’ method of fire-starting. My suggestion was to tie one of the laces from an ice skate to each end of the skate, and twist a stick into the loop once. Using half a coconut shell to provide a pivot at the top of the stick (and protect your hand as you apply pressure), you could then draw the ice skate back and forth (like bowing a stand-up bass), which would spin the piece of wood much faster than by hand, and produce an ember more quickly. As you can imagine, this contraption is called a bow drill. It’s relatively untested technology, having been used for only about 7,000 years, but you may find it worthwhile to know how to make one.

Tinder-hearted
Having an ember is like carrying a soap bubble. It’s pretty, but it ain’t gonna be around for long. You need to get it onto some tinder. Small wood fibers or bits of bark are good. Cotton balls are excellent. The fuzzy parts of cat-tail plants work well, as do dead grasses and leaves. You can collect them as you travel (except for maybe the cotton balls, unless you’re in the South) and carry them in a shirt pocket; your body heat will dry them out nicely. The way to build a fire is small to large. Tinder first, then twigs, small branches, large branches, and finally, logs.

Home is where the hearth is
You’ll want to keep the fire from spreading, so make a fire ring out of stones. You can also place a flat stone upright on the side of the fire away from you in order to reflect heat back towards you. If you’re lucky enough to shelter against a stone wall (natural or artificial), sleep between the fire and the wall, as it acts as a reflector as well.

Note: Do NOT use rocks from a river or wet ground to build your fire ring. The moisture in them can flash into steam, causing them to explode. You don’t want to take shrapnel because you had a hankering for s’mores.

My favorite kind of campfire is the “lazy man’s fire.” Once you’ve got a blaze going, you place just the ends of your bigger pieces of wood in the flames. As they’re consumed, push them in further. It stays small, is easily controlled, and can be doused quickly if necessary.

Should I advertise?
If you want to be found (when lost in the wilderness, for example), build a fire and use greenery to make it smoke. If it’s a humid day and the smoke’s not rising, three fires in a triangle is the international distress sign. If you don’t want to be found (by mutant cannibals, for example), there are ways to build hidden fires not easily seen at night. In a cave is the first choice, as long as it’s not already occupied by an angry bear, pissed-off rattlesnakes, or mutant cannibals. If you don’t have a cave handy, you can try this Air Force-recommended method: dig two holes about elbow deep, approximately a foot or so apart. Diameter is up to you, but I’d estimate no larger than a two-liter bottle or small coffee can. Dig a tunnel that connects these two holes. Build your fire in one hole and light it by reaching through the tunnel. Keep it small, and you should go undetected. Be careful, though, mutant cannibals have a keen sense of smell.

Bile
This is how people in the Appalachian Mountains say “boil.” You may have heard that you should boil your water for five or ten minutes to make sure it’s sterile. You’re just wasting time if you do that. Think about this, your body starts killing off invaders (viruses and bacteria) by raising your temperature to around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (at sea level). If it hits a boil, you’re good to go. And don't worry if you're not at sea level. Water boils in Denver (the mile-high city) at approximately 202 degrees. If your water boils at less than 100 degrees, you're almost in the stratosphere, and viruses are certainly the least of your worries.

So where are we getting all this water, anyway? Stay tuned.