Fire!

Mankind's oldest friend

Every emergency kit should have a means of starting a fire.

Why? Because one of the fundamental needs for humans is to be able to keep warm enough and to be able to cook food. Also, sometimes the water supply is suspect or compromised and you need a way to make it safe to drink. Boiling the water is one of those ways. And in emergency situations, that may mean a fire is needed.

Essentially, there are so many circumstances that can occur in emergencies that it is hard to be prepared for all of them at once. Still, every little bit that we can do to be ready for them, especially when they are easy and low-cost, we should do.

There are several ways of meeting this requirement of having a means to start a fire.

• Matches (preferably waterproof) and tinder.
• A "sparker" and tinder.
• A butane lighter (and tinder).

And there are others, but they are not as practical, but might serve if required and you didn't have any of these available. (As an example see the U-Tube video on starting a fire with a Mini-MagLite, paperclip, and fine steel wool.)

There are pros and cons to each one-- or advantages and disadvantages of each, if you prefer -- depending on the situation.

Some people even put more than one of the above in their kit. My general preference is to have wooden, waterproof matches and a Spark-Lite sparker. The matches are the first choice and Spark-Lite is the "back up" in case the matches don't work or get used up. (See Fire Sparkers for more infomation on the Spark-Lite.)

I used to carry a mini-butane lighter in my pocket. It is like having boxes of matches, and it generally works even if it has gotten wet (once the water is shaken off.) They are incredibly small and cheap and can provide a sustained light. I got out of the habit of carrying one when the airport/airline regulations banned them from flying. I generally don't put them into my emergency kits, though (see warning below.)

WARNING: Be careful what sort of kit you put the butane lighter into. It is not something you want to leak or to explode (in pressurized enviornments, or extremely hot situations, for instance.)

Notice that there are two things in common in the list above.

1. Something to generate heat

2. Something to start burning (tinder)

BOTH are important.

It is beyond the scope of this article to explain how to start a fire. [See my book Emergency Preparedness for Ordinary People -- available soon in both electronic and hardcopy versions.] Or search on the web.

Folks in Boy Scouts and/or in military or civilian survival schools learn how to find natural tinder (even in rainforests). But even they will take the helper if it is available. So here is your helper--firestarters.

You can make a fantastic fire starter (tinder) with a cotton ball and petroleum jelly (one common trade name is Vaseline.)

See here for how to do it. This is an incredibly inexpensive method. And, as an added bonus, can be used on chapped, dry skin. (How's that for your money's worth?)