Learn practical fire-lighting skills, including preparing tinder and kindling, building a suitable fire and safely getting an outdoor fire established.
Activity Overview Difficulty: IntermediateTime: 1–2 hoursLocation: Suitable campfire or outdoor cooking areaBest for: Scouts and ExplorersSkills: Fire lighting, camp cooking, food preparation, fire safety, teamwork Ember cooking is the process of cooking food over the steady heat produced by hot, glowing embers rather than directly over flames. A well-established bed of embers provides more even…
Activity Overview Difficulty: IntermediateTime: 30–45 minutesLocation: Suitable outdoor woodcraft or fire-lighting areaBest for: Scouts and ExplorersSkills: Knife skills, woodcraft, fire lighting, preparation, concentration A feather stick is a piece of dry wood with thin curls of wood shaved from the surface while remaining attached to the stick. These fine curls provide extra surface area and…
Activity Overview Difficulty: BeginnerTime: 30–45 minutesLocation: Outdoors or indoors for preparation; fire-lighting area for testingBest for: Cubs, Scouts and ExplorersSkills: Fire lighting, woodcraft, material selection, preparation, observation A tinder bundle is a loose collection of dry, easily ignited material used to turn a spark or ember into a small flame. Good tinder should be dry,…
Activity Overview Difficulty: AdvancedTime: 45–60 minutesLocation: Indoors for demonstration or a suitable outdoor activity areaBest for: Scouts and ExplorersSkills: Fire-lighting principles, air compression, observation, experimentation, fire safety A fire piston produces heat by rapidly compressing air inside a small cylinder. The compression causes the air temperature to rise enough to ignite a small piece of…
Activity Overview Difficulty: AdvancedTime: 60–90 minutesLocation: Suitable outdoor fire-lighting areaBest for: Scouts and ExplorersSkills: Friction fire lighting, woodcraft, fire safety, patience, observation, problem-solving A bow drill creates an ember through friction between a rotating wooden spindle and a fireboard. A bow provides the movement, while a bearing block holds the top of the spindle in…
Activity Overview Difficulty: ModerateTime: 30–45 minutesLocation: Scout campsites and suitable outdoor areasBest for: Scouts, Explorers, Patrol Leaders and experienced Cubs under close supervisionSkills: Fire lighting, solar energy, tinder preparation, observation, patience and fire safety A magnifying glass can concentrate sunlight onto a small area of tinder, increasing its temperature until it begins to smoulder and…
Activity Overview Difficulty: ModerateTime: 30–45 minutesLocation: Scout campsites and suitable outdoor fire areasBest for: Scouts, Explorers, Patrol Leaders and experienced Cubs under close supervisionSkills: Fire lighting, flint-and-steel technique, tinder preparation, fire safety and campcraft Flint-and-steel fire lighting works by striking hardened steel against a suitable piece of flint to create small sparks. Unlike a ferrocerium…
Activity Overview Difficulty: Easy–ModerateTime: 15–20 minutesLocation: Scout campsites and suitable outdoor activity areasBest for: Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Patrol Leaders and adult leadersSkills: Fire safety, ferrocerium rod handling, spark control, situational awareness and campcraft A ferrocerium rod is generally straightforward to use, but it produces very hot sparks capable of igniting dry materials. The main safety…
Activity Overview Difficulty: ModerateTime: 20–30 minutesLocation: Scout campsites and suitable outdoor fire areasBest for: Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Patrol Leaders and adult leadersSkills: Fire lighting, ferrocerium rod use, tinder preparation, fire safety and campcraft A ferrocerium rod, often called a ferro rod or fire steel, produces hot sparks when a suitable striker is drawn firmly across…
Activity Overview Difficulty: ModerateTime: 20–30 minutesLocation: Scout campsites and suitable outdoor fire areasBest for: Cubs, Scouts, Explorers, Patrol Leaders and adult leadersSkills: Fire lighting, fire safety, preparation, observation and campcraft Lighting a fire with matches is a basic campcraft skill, but the preparation of the fire is more important than the match itself. Start with…
