Wait a minute. How to start a fire in an emergency situation…
“I prepared my emergency food stockpile, but I forgot about making a fire.”
“I have a portable electric cooktop.”
“I like camping! “
“I have an RV, so I am ok.”
Fire is the reason we can eat rice, meat, pasta, beans, etc. Even if we prepared everything in our emergency stockpile, without fire, we’re in trouble. Maybe eating cold food is OK for some situations, but having a fire is essential if you want to prepare food for the long haul. Whether or not you will be able to make a fire will depend on the specific emergency situation. If you have access to electricity from a generator, for example, cooking will be a lot easier. But if you don’t… we at least need to know a few different ways to make a fire.
In a long-term situation, we might have to fall back on the basics. If so, we will need a saw, matches, and a lighter to start a fire.
Short-term emergency
In a short-term emergency, we might still be able to use a portable cooktop, portable gas stove, camping stove, charcoals, or the like. We can prepare these items now, but it is difficult to know if we will be able to rely on them in a long-term emergency, mainly because we don’t know when we will run out of fuel. But also, we might not be able to use them if we have to evacuate from our homes.
Long-term emergency
In a long-term situation, we might have to fall back on the basics. If so, we will need a saw, matches, and a lighter to start a fire. It’s not easy. To find firewood, we have to cut branches off a tree. To make a stove we gather rocks or bricks. Then we try to start the fire. If we can find a wire-mesh, we can use it as a grill on top of our stove.
| Making a fire is also very important to keep warm in the wintertime (from the survival rule of 3’s). In a real emergency, you might be pushed to your limits, on the verge of physical and mental collapse. In dire circumstances, even a small fire will warm you up inside and out. |  |
Please make time to practice using a saw and starting a fire.
If you have children, let them help (safely of course). These are important skills.
I am curious how many kids can use matches nowadays, or for that matter, even know what matches are? I hope kids know how much we need fire, and I hope they learn how to use fire correctly. Maybe kids’ images of fire are negative, from seeing news about wildfires or house fires. But fire is a very important part of everyday life. I believe kids should learn how to use fire correctly and try to start a fire, under supervision and in a safe area.
I will post my butane canister recommendations in my next post.
See you next time.