When the weather turns cold, there’s nothing like snuggling up by the fireplace or gathering around a warm bonfire with friends.
But if you don’t have the proper equipment or know-how, starting a fire can be a challenge. Don’t let that hold you back!
With the right tools and techniques, you can easily become a fire-starting pro. In fact, many of the materials you need may already be in your backyard.
And knowing how to create a fire is a valuable life skill that everyone should have.
Check out this article to learn about the different materials and methods for starting a fire. You’ll be toasty in no time!
Prerequisites of Starting a Fire
Before you start a fire, you need to know what you are stepping into. There are many short-cut ways you can use to start a fire. For instance, fire starters can help start a fire in seconds and are available in the market, but what if you do not have access to them all the time? You can’t just sit there in the cold night or not have the outdoor party you want to have.
If you want to enjoy being outdoors on those chilly nights, you should invest in a wood-burning fire pit. They are readily available and provide the best warmth.
There are other fire pits, such as propane and gas fire pits. But natural gas is expensive, and you can not use it in some places as professional installation is required. Other than that, propane fire pits come in handy. But the basic fire pit, which is cheaper to install, will do the same job; it just requires you to know how to build a fire. Starting a fire is not the only thing you must learn. Suppose you know how to start a fire but not how to put it in the fire pit. Additionally, there are dangers associated with not going about this process correctly.
Know Your Fuel Source
While you think a stick of wood and a lighter are all you need to start a fire, that is not true. You need some extra material at the beginning to get the fire going. Therefore, we have created a list of things you will need before you begin.
There are three primary fuel sources that you can use in your fire pit. You can understand their benefits from the details given below.
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Tinder
No, we don’t mean the dating app! Get your minds out of the gutter. Tinder, in this case, refers to a fuel source. If you were to choose the cheapest fuel source for your fire pit, then tinder is the right option. The tinder pile looks like needles in a box, but the difference is that these needles quickly become hot. A few examples of tinder wood are grass and dry pine needles. But make sure you have dry tinder. The one drawback of tinder is that the fire only lasts for a short time. For this reason, people often only use it as a fire starter.
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Kindling
Kindling wood is thicker than tinder. People also call it pine wood. It is like a thin tree bark that lets your actual firewood logs catch fire. Using kindling wood is unnecessary as you can also start the fire with a tinder. But the one thing you need to know is that kindling starts burning immediately and lasts longer than tinder wood does. When you start a fire in your outdoor fire pits, it takes you a long time to complete the process. For this reason, people prefer kindling to tinder as it gives you more time to manage everything.
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Fuel Wood
Fuel wood or seasoned firewood is one of the most common materials for your wood fire pit/gas fire pits/propane fire pits. The process of creating firewood logs is pretty straightforward. But you still need to have the knowledge base to do it. In the summers, wood is cut and then taken to a warehouse or a place with no moisture. There it is kept for a few months till its moisture content is reduced to 25%. The cost of a firewood stack varies depending on the moisture content. If the logs have less than 20% moisture, they will be expensive compared to the ones with 25% moisture content.
Things You Need to Start a Fire
- Fire pit area
- A bucket or a big box
- Fire extinguisher (for emergency)
- Matchbox
- Firewood
- Kindling wood
- Tinder wood
- Lighter fluid (optional)
- Thin long stick
- A shovel
Ensure you have all this before stepping on the ground to start a fire. A few things are optional, but keep them in case of an emergency.
Step-By-Step Guide To Start a Fire
Now that you know all about the materials and methods for starting a fire, allow us to show you the step-by-step guide for starting a fire. Carefully read the steps below to start a successful fire.
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Creating a Safe Environment
The first and foremost measure you must take is to create a safe environment. For this, you need to do a few things. Make sure to keep the seating area safe from the fire pit. Furthermore, a secure location means there is no chance of the fire spreading. So make sure you keep that in mind before starting a fire. Make sure you have even ground to exclude the chances of your pit losing its balance which can lead to an accident.
There are different reasons for starting a fire, maybe you want to enjoy your casual evening, or you want an excellent cozy environment to sit with your friends and have a few drinks. Or perhaps treat yourself to some toasted marshmallows. But above all, fire pit safety is of extreme importance.
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Collecting All Material
After creating a safe environment, the second step is collecting all the necessary materials. The list above in the article is of great help in gathering materials. The best thing you can do is keep all the material in one place. Doing this will help you identify each step and keep everything in one place. You can access them quickly, so you will not have to worry about the fire fading.
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Choosing Your Method
There are different ways you can light a fire pit. To be more precise, there are various structures for starting a fire. You can choose from the three structures.
- Cross structure
- Teepee structure
- Log-cabin structure
For the cross structure, you need to place the tinder material in the center of the pit. Moving on, you will add kindling pieces above the tinder material. Make sure it is a crisscross pattern. Then comes the firewood placement. The pattern must be the same, and you need to ensure that there are gaps between each layer.
For the teepee structure, the first step is the same as it was for the cross structure. You will place the tinder material in the center. Then take your kindling pieces and put them on top of the tinder material in a way that leaves an opening on one side. Now pick your firewood logs and place them above the kindling pieces, leaving space for the airflow.
For the log-cabin structure, you must place tinder pieces as you did for the above two options. For the kindling pieces, you must place them in the same way you did for the teepee structure. Now take two firewood logs and join their heads. Repeat the system till it looks like a log cabin.
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Light Up the Material
Now comes the foremost step. But make sure you are done with all the above steps before reaching this point. Skipping anything can halt your fire. You can use anything to start a fire. You can use a lighter or matchsticks to start the fire. For things to be quick, you can use lighter fluid as it will help the material to catch fire swiftly. You can even use a butane torch lighter.
You must remember while lighting fires that you must burn a piece from all sides. Only lighting the material from one side will delay the process, and the marshmallows won’t look good waiting there to get a great toast.
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Maintain the Fire
This is a critical step, and most people forget about it. You need to ensure that the flames grow quickly at the start. As time progresses, the flames should increase gradually and, at some point, reach their final desired limit. This is the step where you will use your long, thin stick. Move around the hot coals with the stick to ensure the fire spreads throughout the pit. You can use an additional tinder pile to increase the fire. You can even use additional logs to keep the fire going for a long time.
How to Put Out a Fire
Putting out the fire is the second most important task after ensuring the safety of the fire pit. A fire that is left unattended can cause irreparable harm. You need to ensure the fire has completely gone out, and there are no chances of sparks whatsoever. To avoid waiting for the fire to go out, you should start putting out the fire half an hour before leaving the place.
There are different ways you can put out a fire. For instance, you can put out a fire quickly if you do not want to use your fire pit for several days. To do so, you can dump a bucket full of water on the pit, and the fire will disappear in no time. Use the stick to check if any of the coal is still burning. Fire is a sneaky thing, and there could still be a log that is still burning.
One way to see if the fire is entirely out is to check if there is any hissing from the fire pit. We can guarantee the fire is not entirely out if you hear such noise. In that case, dump another bucket of water to ensure the fire is completely out. Wait a few minutes, and then check again to ensure no noise comes from the fire pit. Now the fire is completely out.
But if you need to use the fire pit in the coming days, you cannot use this method. You will need to sprinkle water from time to time till the fire is completely out. You cannot dump water, as it will become a hurdle in the future for starting a fire.
Safety Precautions
Wood fires are relaxing and offer enough heat to last for a long time. But you must check the safety precautions before and after starting a fire. One moment you could enjoy a fun time with your loved ones, and the next, you could call the fire department to put out a fire. And you want to avoid the latter situation. Therefore following a list of safety precautions while working with a fire pit is prudent.
- Make sure your environment is safe and the fire will not harm anything
- The ground is even so the fire pit won’t fall
- Keep all your equipment in place to avoid any complications
- Keep the matchbox and lighter out of reach of children
- Make sure to wear gloves while lighting up the wood
- Keep your gloves on even when maintaining the fire
- When putting out the fire, make sure to pour the water slowly to avoid the wood falling out of the pit
- Make sure the fire is out when leaving the place
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can you start a fire without using tinder and kindling material?
You can start a fire without using tinder and kindling material, but this method is not what we prefer or recommend. It is hugely time-consuming and inefficient and a gateway to significant accidents. Burning the firewood directly takes work; you will still have to use something to start the fire.
2. Why is kiln-dried wood better than firewood?
Kiln-dried wood is better than firewood because it has an extremely low moisture content. Also, it lets your fire burn for longer and is easier to put out. But you must remember that kiln-dried wood is expensive, and there is no need to spend on it if you do not plan to cook a meal on the fire. Kiln-dried wood is common for camping use.
3. Is there any kind of wood that is hard to burn?
Yes. Various kinds of wood are tough to burn, and it takes a lot of time for the flame to grow. But at the same time, such woods provide more heat and burn longer than others. In this category fall the Oak and Beech. They are readily available but very hard to start with. And this is the reason beginners do not begin their journey with them.
4. Can you use dry leaves from your backyard to start the fire?
Yes. Dry leaves act as tinder and prove to be very helpful in starting a fire. They catch fire quickly, and when you light up a bunch of these, they can engulf the kindling wood.
5. Is a natural gas fire pit a good option?
No. When there is a list of options for you to choose from, a natural gas fire pit must be your last option. Only a professional can handle them, and a proper gas terminal is required. Furthermore, natural gas is expensive and not suitable for people with allergies.
Conclusion
Enjoy a relaxing evening with a group of friends or, sometimes, alone. And adding a fire pit to that equation will make the experience more enjoyable. Using several materials and methods, you can start a fire in different ways. But you must always make sure to follow the safety rules.
Starting a fire can be difficult, but one can master almost everything with practice. The article explains everything from starting a fire to putting it out. With this, this post comes to an end. We hope the article was enlightening.
