Fuel Burning wood for fuel, on a cooking fire, that is larger than what can be broken up with your bare hands, is a needless, inefficient waste of effort, time, and wood. Seldom will this larger wood be successfully burnt down to white ash, and it requires the use of saw or axe to effectively break it down for use. I’ve cooked countless complete meals on small cooking fires with fuel wood no larger in diameter than my thumb, and a fire no larger than what could be extinguished by throwing a hat over the top. This so-called “hat fire”1 is an extremely efficient use of wood, because you can easily collect ample fuel from standing dead stubs in the forest, or even from the suspended branches of deadfall timber. This “hat fire” is adequate for a warming fire, if you use any sort of windbreak and open face shelter, whether of natural materials or a canvas tarp, in all but the most extreme cold. I’ve remained comfortable, at temperatures well below 0F, with nothing but a single, poorly made military issue wool blanket, using one. When the mercury drops for real though, and temperatures start dropping to -20F and colder, it behooves you to use larger wood, to build a better fire. The best warming fires, when you lack adequate shelter and bedding, is inarguably the “long fire.” The “long fire” involves using 3-4 logs, 6-8 inches in diameter, and 5-6 feet long. Stacked parallel, in a pyramid, you can use the embers and fuel of your smaller cooking fire to begin the burning process along the length of these, a “comfortable stride” in front of your bedding.2 Over my decades in the mountains, I’ve come across old sites that were obviously bivouac sites. They were not village sites, even temporarily, but sites where individuals had camped. While the coals were long since gone from their fires, these invariably shared some common characteristics that we still recommend today. First, something large needs to be at your back. Ideally, this will be something like a large stone boulder. If no boulders are convenient, a large deadfall tree trunk works, as do reflective mylar “casualty blankets.” In a pinch, an open face shelter made of natural materials or canvas will suffice. Site Selection and Preparation Before building a fire, whether for warming or for cooking, you need to consider some factors that will impact both your site selection and the type of fire—called a “fire lay”–that will be most efficient for your needs. What type of area are you in, both in terms of terrain and climate. While our summers, where I live can be scorching hot, even in the height of summer, our nights can be uncomfortably cold, with lows dropping into the low 40s and even into the 30s, as early as mid-August on most years. Unfortunately, because it is a mountain environment, we also confront high winds in those time frames, meaning that a fire may not be a responsible, safe option, even if it means being uncomfortably cold. On the other hand, when I was in the southern highlands, we might see a week or so of freezing weather in the winter time, but generally speaking, we would never experience cold so brutally cold that a full-blown “long fire” type warming fire was necessary.3 What do you need in the way of fire, as opposed to what you think you would like? What materials and tools do you have available? Even in the northern Rockies, or in Alaska, if you don’t have a saw or an axe, while you can use the “caveman chainsaw” method of burning long logs in half for firewood, it’s time- and labor consuming to do so. Maybe, more time spent on building a good shelter, and then using a smaller “hat fire” for warming, will be sufficient? How much time do you have? If you’re looking for a bivouac site at, or near dark, and you will be moving on again at, or before, daybreak, you may be better off foregoing a fire at all, eating cold, and sleeping cold, wrapped in a blanket or sleeping bag, and shivering a little through the night. There are other options as well. Wrapping yourself in a wool blanket, sitting up, with a lit candle between your legs for warmth, will raise the temperature within that “shelter” by 20-30 degrees, which can be more than adequate for survival, even if sleeping sitting upright requires some adjustment, psychologically.4 What is the security situation? If you’re lost, and waiting for rescue from SAR, a big, blazing fire that draws attention from six ridges away, may be just the ticket, and it will keep you plenty warm, both from the fire, and from the effort of gathering enough wood to keep it fueled. On the other hand, if you’re in a situation that requires discretion and stealth, even a small, open fire may be proscribed. As a general rule, given historical norms, I tend to believe that both the US military, and the paramilitary survivalist/prepper focus on “no fires in tactical situations” is wildly overblown hyperbolic fear-mongering, there are times when even a small fire, in a well-hidden location will be a security risk. In those situations, you end up doing what soldiers and adventurers have done for millenia: you spend the night cold. When it’s time to build a fire, you want a dry spot, protected from the wind as much as practicably possible. If a warming fire, for an open-face camp shelter or a (canvas) tarp shelter, it should be suitably placed in relation to the shelter. If used as a warming fire, without shelter, it doesn’t matter much, and often, a quick cooking fire will be used long before you stop for a day to shelter up. For warming fires, it is critical to concentrate the heat of the fire in the direction you desire, and that you have a good supply of fuel wood close at hand. The use of a back wall for your fire will help tremendously with concentrating the heat, as well as providing a great deal of enhanced security, by helping to mask the fire from observation, to a great degree.5 Most typically taught is the simple straight backwall, using a log, stones, or multiple logs. While this can work, with the fire between the back wall and the open face shelter, it is not ideal, since it doesn’t protect the fire from wind from the sides. A better choice is what the military SERE community refers to as a “L-shaped fire wall.” More accurately a shallow V-shape, this provides, when build properly, protection in essentially all directions, from wind and rain on the fire. For very small fires, a simple log back wall will suffice, with your cooking fire within a few inches of the log, or nestled up against a large boulder. For larger fires—especially warming fires where really necessary—several decent sized logs, stacked atop each other, will work much better. If there is any ground litter at all, it is imperative that you clear it, down to mineral soil, in a conspicuously large radius, around your fire location. Typical manuals will demand at least 3-4 feet in diameter, but my experience has long demonstrated that—it depends. If I’m doing a simple, small cooking fire, with dry, thumb-sized fuel, I’ll often clear no more than a couple of inches around the fire. If I’m using fire logs—4-6 inch diameter logs in lieu of the ever popular “stone circle” I won’t bother clearing the litter away except for directly below the fire. The Dakota Hole Fire In many survival situations, lowering the profile of your fire, by placing it “underground” can be helpful. This further reduces the visual signature of your fire, as well as ensuring you are well below the depth of any organic, possibly flammable, leaf and ground litter. Typically taught in many survival and bushcraft courses is the Dakota Hole fire method. To make an underground Dakota Hole fire, Dig a hole in the ground, 6-8 inches deep, and with a similar diameter. You can use a shovel, entrenching tool, or even just a stout, sharpened stick, to dig the hole. On the upwind side of this hole, dig a second, somewhat smaller hole, connecting the two, below ground, for increased ventilation. Build your fire in the first hole. The Dakota Hole fire is lauded because of the masking effect of dropping the fire below grade. It is also beloved of many because the draft hole means even damp, suboptimal fuel wood will generally burn really hot, and almost smokeless, because of the ventilation draft created by the second hole. Despite this popularity though, there are some significant disadvantages to the Dakota Hole fire, that make it suboptimal in the real world. https://www.patreon.com/posts/firec...paign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Continue reading...
