Build the only flame you need to make it through the night.
by Keith McCafferty

 

For a hunter or fisherman who faces an unexpected night in the winter wilderness, fire is the god that grants the dawn.

But all fires are not equal. The Native American star fire has sticks arranged like the spokes of a wheel. It is terrific for conserving scarce fuel, but the flame at the axis produces little heat, and it must be tended frequently. The log cabin fire burns at the other end of the spectrum, producing a bonfire flame and lots of BTUs but consuming its fuel supply all at once. Fall asleep and you'll wake up with the shakes, embers dying at your feet.

What a total outdoorsman needs to know is how to build a long-lasting fire that warms the head as well as the feet, the backside as well as the front‹and that requires little maintenance. If you can manage this without getting smoke in your face, you'll be well rested by morning, when you're going to need your energy to get out of the predicament that made a fire necessary in the first place. To this end the parallel log lay has no peer.

Prerequisite Skills: The Spark
To make fire you need a spark. Matches and butane cigarette lighters offer the simplest forms of ignition, but their open flame is vulnerable under breezy conditions. A magnesium and steel tool is far superior for starting a fire in the wind. Collect a tinder bundle of dried grasses, moss beards, or scrapings from inner bark. In an emergency, search your pockets for lint or unravel threads from the tops of hunting socks. Money will burn, and so will shaved hair. If you're using magnesium and steel, a ball of pure cotton or 0000 steel wool makes the best tinder.

Collect a double handful of fine kindling the diameter of matchsticks, one armful of pencil-size twigs, and as many larger sticks as you can carry. Ignite the tinder bundle over dry ground (if the ground is snow-covered, place a piece of bark below) and build a tepee fire, gradually adding more and bigger sticks. A fire needs oxygen to build, so make sure you keep your tepee loose and open. Only after the flames are well established along the length of the backing wall should you add the logs for the parallel log lay.

Advanced Skills: Slow Burn
This isn't no-trace camping. For a subzero night, you'll need a stack of fuel as long and as wide as your arm span and approximately 3 feet tall. That's a pile of timber, most efficiently rendered with a saw or axe. If hands and feet are your only tools, try breaking dry downfall by jumping on it. You can section larger logs by building small fires under them, a time-consuming chore, which is one reason for making camp as soon as you foresee spending the night.

Besides a handy fuel supply, the paramount consideration in picking a campsite is an open area large enough to contain both flame and sparks. At the same time, it's important to protect the fire from too much wind, which will consume the fuel supply while dissipating the heat. An opening 20 feet in diameter on the timbered bench of a hillside is ideal. Surrounding trees act as a windbreak, and the slope ensures a nightlong downdraft for a predictable direction of smoke.

The key element of the parallel log lay is the backing wall, which should be waist-high to reflect heat forward onto the sleeping area and send smoke upward. Stack three or four large logs, bracing them with another log or two leaned over the top at right angles. The backing wall will eventually burn, so use green logs unless the temperature is very cold; they will resist burning until the wee hours when they are needed most, reducing maintenance while you sleep. Construct an opposing wall by stacking the bulk of your fuel supply behind the spot for your bed, which can be a pad if you were smart enough to pack one or tree boughs if you weren't. Alternatively, make a reflective wall by pegging down a space blanket to form a lean-to.

Build a long fire in front of the log backing wall. When it begins to die down, place three 4-inch-diameter logs parallel to each other over the top, with 1-inch spaces between them to give the fire enough oxygen. How often you'll need to feed the parallel log lay depends to no small extent on the wood. Hardwoods and willows burn with long-lasting intensity. Yellow pines are among the best of the conifers. Fires made from other softwoods need more tending. Air temperature, the durability of the backing wall, whether you're burning green or dry fuel‹all combine to keep your night more or less busy.

I won't kid you. A November night is a long time passing, whether you're burning oak blocks or a stack of well-seasoned cow chips. But the fire is your hearth away from home, and it's as important for nourishing the soul as it is for warming the blood.

The Challenge
Set off into the woods (where fire building is permitted) one hour before nightfall, quickly clear a place for camp, and get to work. Gather tinder first, then twigs for the tepee fire, and finally logs for the parallel log lay.

In a survival situation, the most important part of fire building is the spark. Gather up a softball-size bundle of natural tinder, poke a hole into the middle to create a nest for your spark, and coax the ball to flame. You're allowed two matches or a magnesium and steel tool‹no commercial tinder. You have 15 minutes. As you tend the tepee fire, construct a backing wall. If there's still some light on the horizon when you have the tepee fire burning strong and all the components in place for the parallel log lay, you've passed the test and will have gained the confidence to survive an emergency night in the wilderness.

Camp comfort: A log backing wall reflects the heat, dissipates smoke, and eventually burns, which will reduce maintenance. Fuel is stacked behind you, which also keeps the heat in. Build the fire so that a light breeze blows parallel to the log lay, ensuring a steady burn.