Good firewood if well seasoned, giving little flame but plenty of sustained heat. The thinner branches of this tree make good kindling. Good Woodīurns with a good flame and moderate heat. There is also an old poem about wood burning which can be used to help children remember the types of wood to use and avoid.
The tables below list some common woods and the properties that make them good and bad for use on a fire. This way they will be more stable and having a foot on the ground will mean they are able to move quickly if something unexpected happens with the fire.Ĭonsideration should be given to the types of wood available. Correct kneeling position in front of fireĬhildren should be taught to kneel in front of the fire on one knee only. Using the logs in this way also creates a shelf for pans and other items to keep them off the ground. In the picture above a double wall of logs has been used to create a boundary. Rocks or logs around the fire pit create a boundary to contain the fire and prevent children from getting too close to the fire. Double walled fire boundary and welding gauntlet.Ī welding gauntlet or other heat proof glove will make managing the fire, and cooking, easier. Putting too much fuel on the fire at once will restrict air flow, extinguish flame and cause it to smoke excessively. Building a larger fire than you need will just make it harder to control, take longer to burn down and waste fire wood.īe careful to feed the fire with fuel and not smother it. You may need to dig down slightly to ensure no wood, moss or twigs are in the fire pit.īuild the fire as small as a possible. The fire should be built on a rock base or on bare soil. Good firewood can be easily recognised as it will snap not bend. If the woodland floor is wet or damp then any wood on the floor will also be and you will best to collect standing dead wood or branches that have fallen but landed in bushes or lower in the tree. If you do not know the woodlands it is worth taking tinder in with you.įor fuel you will need to collect wood of increasing diameter and slowly increase the size of the fuel you add to build your fire to the desired size. If the ground is dry then wood can be collected directly from the woodland floor. King Alfreds’ Cake is a fungus that grows on dead Ash and also makes good tinder. Shavings or scrapings of birch bark conifer resin and dry pine needles all make good tinder. To stop combustion of a fire one of the three elements of the fire-triangle has to be removed.īefore you light the fire collect plenty of tinder and kindling. To burn effectively the fire will need to be managed to ensure the right combination of these elements. It shows each of the elements a fire needs. The diagram above is called the fire-triangle. Before preparing and lighting a fire ensure you have enough staff if someone is going to be responsible for managing the fire. The camp fire should never be left unattended. If water is not available it is possible to extinguish the fire with dirt but care needs to be taken not to bury the fire and leave it smouldering with a risk of reigniting after you have left. You may also want to take a shovel with you to clear the fire. If there is no natural source of water you will need to take with you ample water to ensure that after any water used for cooking and drinking there is more than enough to leave the fire area safe. There should be water nearby to extinguish the fire. Water drum sited near the area being cleared for a fire pit. Not only does this ensure those in the fire pit area know where people are coming from it also significantly reduces the chances of someone tripping up near the fire. One way movement around the fire pit area will reduce the chance of people bumping into each other and ensure that those managing the fire know which way to expect people to approach.Įveryone should use the entrance and exit and no one should step over the boundary. People should only enter through the entrance and exit through the exit. An emergency exit on the opposite side to the main exit may also be useful. Mark a clearly defined entrance and exit to the area. Make sure there is plenty of room for movement around the fire. Mark a boundary, of suitable size, around the fire pit area with logs or sticks. Brush any leaf litter and other debris away so the area is down to bare soil. Fire Pit AreaĬlear and area, at least 10 foot around the fire, of twigs and sticks. If winds are high consider wind direction when choosing the site for the fire. The site for the fire should be away from tarps, tents and any buildings or other structures.Ĭheck for holes of lumps in the ground that may present a trip hazard.
#Rules of survival tinder pdf#
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