Fire and Food-Ness Lake

LOTS OF THIS INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM THE ONLINE SCOUTS UK SITE

Skill Outlines

Day one-How to make a fire before the flame-MATCHES
Day two-alternative lighting methods and make bannock-MAGNESIUM, Magnifying glass
Day three-alternative lighting methods boil water competition

Day 1-Basic Fires-TALK TO KITCHEN ABOUT GETTING BANNOCK FOR TOMORROW
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Fuel needed for Fires, Humans don’t go into fires

Lighting a tee light with magnesium

ATTENDANCE
Introduce yourselves
Set out some pretty clean boundaries for respecting the fire and the food.
Whatever goes in the fire stays in the fire
No horse play around the fire
Only burn what nature makes- no garbage

Sit the kiddies down on the benches in canoe cove. There is al lot in the material so make sure you teach and emphasize the basics and just skim over the extra material. From the time you spent getting your skill ready in staff training you should know what is important.

Whenever they go to light fires have them break into partners. Partners of 2-3 are great so that they have someone to work with and so that they share a fire pit with someone else. When competitions come they have a group that they can work with too.

Today is the one match fires. Making sure to teach what makes it easier to light and have a fire get hot fast.

Location
You will need a site that is sheltered, especially during highwinds. You will also need to take into account the layout of the rest of the camp. Do not place your fire at the base of tree's, stumps or rocks. The heat can damage the leaves and smoke can kill any animals or birds living in the trees. Keep the fire well away from your tents. Cooking fires need to be near the kitchen area. Once you have chosen your site, clear the surrounding area to form a wide circle of bare earth (clear all twigs, leaves etc.) around 2m (6 ft ) across.
If the ground is too wet to place the fire on directly, build a small platform from a layer of green logs covered with a layer of earth (or you could use a layer of stones. Do not use stones from a river bed/ bank. They will crack and explode when heated.) Be especially careful if you build your fire on peat - once it catches fire it can be very hard to put out.

At this point have the campers inspect the location that they will be using and have them comment on what is positive and negative about the area.


Why do we light fires?
Fire has many uses from providing heat for warmth and cooking
to signaling and boosting morale.

Principle of Fire
To light and keep a fire going you need three items :
• Heat
• Fuel
• Oxygen

What are these three?
Fuel
The most common fuel is wood. Squirrels, dirty underwear and leftover brussel sprouts work, but should only be considered when in an emergency.
Heat
Heat from the smaller fuel should ignite the next size up which should be arranged around it. The best way to learn this is to practice starting fires using just Tinder and Kindling.
Oxygen
All surfaces that are trying to burn need oxygen, make sure that the fire is kept loosely packed to allow in as much air as possible.

These are commonly known as the Fire Triangle…if you remove
any one of these the fire will go out. When lighting a fire you must always make sure there is enough air getting to the base of the fire, that there is enough fuel and there is a heat source. The more oxygen the fire gets the higher the temperature (the brighter the fire). This could be from the wind or by forcing a draught (fanning the fire). This will burn fuel more rapidly. By reducing the amount of oxygen reaching the fire the fuel will burn less rapidly and this will allow the embers to glow. Smoke is the result of poor
combustion…


Preparing your fire
Preparation is vital…take plenty of time to prepare the fire and materials before you even think of lighting the fire.
Fuel should be graduated into piles from kindling through to main fuel and logs. Tinder should be dry and as fine as you can get it. There should be ample fuel to keep the fire going for many hours before you light the first match. Make sure you have the right materials, that are stored neatly and
dryly to hand and that you know what type of fire and method of lighting you are going to use.

Fuel
Commonly known as…wood. The general rule is that the lighter weight the wood the faster it will light but the faster it will burn out. Not as great for cooking fires but always a hit when warming up. The more dense woods take a hot fire to get going but will leave beautiful coals to cook with. Most of the wood you will be dealing with is Pine and Birch. Get kids to pick up a log of each and tell you which will burn faster.

Tinder
Tinder is the first material that the flame of the match will touch, therefore its role is most important. It must burn immediately and must be absolutely dry.
Aim to get ‘two big handfuls’.
Wood shavings
Birch, Cherry, Honeysuckle & Cedar bark
Dry grass
Fluff / lint (from your pockets or clothes dryer!)
Dry pine needles
Dead bracken
Clematis
Fungi
Cotton wool
Char cloth
A very common tinder is wood shavings. These can be obtained from dry sticks using a knife. While you are whittling a stick to obtain shavings you should be making a fire stick too. A fire stick is made by shaving a stick with shallow cuts to 'feather' it. This can be used as kindling and will catch light freely and quickly create a fire.
Birch bark is excellent. The sap in it keeps it waterproof and also helps it burn. Get a good chunk and peal the layers apart to get a good tinder pile. Easiest to set-up with kids too.

Many fungi, particularly those which grow on trees, can be dried
to produce excellent tinder. Problem is that they are spongy and hold water very well. If it has been dry out you can use old mans beard.
Char cloth is simply Cotton or silk scorched black. This is a good
tinder and was widely used in history.
Damp tinder is a common problem…it needs to be absolutely dry.
There are several things you can try. Keep damp tinder in your pocket, especially useful when hiking, your body heat should dry it. Try rubbing it hard against absorbent clothing. With soft woods or fungi try stripping off the out layer, the middle may still be dry.
Kindling
Kindling is the small thing wood you use to start a fire. This is usually dry wood, fire sticks, bark and pine cones. The kindling should carry the flame from the tinder and give it strength so that larger fuels can be used.
The wood must be dead…if it does not snap easily the it is not dead and should not be used. Look for wood between the size of a match up to the thickness of your fingers. Aim to get a ‘bucketful’
Main Fuel
As the kindling burns you should aim to slowly increase the size of the fuel. Never put on fuel that is more than twice the size of the fuel that is currently burning. The thicker the wood the longer it will take to catch fire but once burning will last longer. A range of sizes will be required, from ‘finger size’ up to ‘large logs’. Pay careful attention to the types of wood, the size, grading and storing the wood.

Get the campers to go and gather the materials to make their fire. Take them on a little hike so you do not wear out the same area. Important to teach that we can find all these materials on dead or fallen trees. We need to be careful not to take the bark off of a living tree.

SKIP THIS MATERIAL-Wood Store-SKIP THIS MATERIAL
A wood store is very important. Preparation is important and you need somewhere safe and dry to store your wood. The wood store should be in between your fire area and your chopping area, but not too close to either! Try to keep your wood in a safe, dry place, off of the floor. This could simply mean laying down a few stout pieces of wood as base or could involve building a specialist store with a roof. Either way make sure your wood is graded. Arrange the wood into separate piles in order of size. Keep the piles separated by knocking some stout sticks in the ground or keeping them on different shelves in your wood pile (largest pieces on the top). Fill the wood store up before you light your fire. Keep the store full. Never let it become low. The store should be kept dry. You can cover it over with an old groundsheet or similar or build a good roof from natural materials. A supply of kindling and newspaper should be kept somewhere dry so if everything gets completely soaked there is still a chance of getting a fire going (this could be on the minibus or in a sealed container, metal is better than plastic in terms of little chewing animals). You will find you need much more kindling with wet wood as it has to dry before it burns. If larger wood gets wet, this can be placed on top of an altar fire grill to 'steam' dry, stacked near or against the fireplace or perhaps under the metal altar fire.

Construction
How you build the fire depends on what methods you are using to light it and personal preferences. • If the ground is damp or wet then build the fire on a
platform of logs, thick sticks or flat stones.
• If it is raining hard, you may need to build a shelter over
the fire but make sure that both this and the platform
are made of green, and not old, dry wood.
• If there is a strong wind, shelter the fire before you try
to light it.
• Make sure that you have plenty of kindling available, so
that you can add more as the fire becomes established.
• For almost all fires you place your tinder in a small,
loose pile in the middle of the fireplace and build the
kindling around it, making sure that you do not pack it
too tight, as the fire will need oxygen to burn well.
• Set fire to the tinder and gently blow on it until the
kindling starts to burn
• Once the kindling starts to burn gradually add more
until it burning nicely
• Gradually add the fuel into the shape that you want.
Don't rush this stage and make sure that the wood you
are adding is less than twice the size of that which is
already alight.
• Never throw wood onto a fire, always place it carefully.

Tepee Fire
A common method. Place a stick upright in the ground. Pack your tinder loosely around this stick. Lay some kindling against the stick at an angle to form a tepee. Light the tinder. The tepee will enable the fire to burn upward, allowing good draught. Add in the other fuel as the fire gets established.
Criss-cross Fire-Log house
Lay your kindling in a square around and on your tinder. Place further sticks of kindling alternately in layers as if you were building a log cabin. Further kindling can be placed around the square.
Propped Fire
Use a large stick or small log as a base. Lay your kindling propped up against the log with your tinder underneath.

Get the campers to pick which method they are going to use. And have them set-up the area so you can look at it before they light it. Give them a match only when you think that they have their area prepared enough for just one match to do the job. If they are not ready give them hints and specific instructions so they can work towards something.

Congrats! You have officially gotten ten campers to start fires.

Useful Tips
• Always store some firewood in your shelter, this means
even if it rains then you can light a fire. If you cannot
find any dry wood, then split some with a hand axe or
shave it with a knife, it may be dry underneath. The
best form of firewood is standing deadwood.
• An easy way to light fire sticks is to raise them up
slightly and put your candle under the pile. The heat
from the candle is constant and will light them, when
they start to burn, pull the candle out.
• Build a reflector at the back of your fire if possible, you
can use this as a rack to dry your wet wood out with.
• Fires burn faster if they are force fed more air
• Carry as many strike anywhere matches as you can
• Select and dry tinder in advance where possible, collect
as you travel.
• Dry damp wood near the fire.
• Bank up fires to keep them in at night (Ensure fire is
totally dead before leaving camp and guard against risk
of fire spreading)
• Practise primitive techniques BEFORE you need them.
‘Blowing tools’ :
• Bellows: not so easy to find but VERY effective
• Fanning: Clipboard or UNBREAKABLE plate.
• Hot Air Gun: Turns almost any fire into a furnace
• A piece of copper tubing with a rubber hose on the end
makes an excellent tool to safely introduce oxygen into
a fire. The tubing and hose should be about 50 cm
each to be used safely.
Danger Points
• Have a bucket of water or fire extinguisher nearby
• Do not wear nylon clothes near the fire
• Make sure the fire is out before you leave it
• Never use flammable liquid or aerosols on a fire

Put that sucker out!
This is one of the most important steps. You need to prevent a
risk of fire spreading and ensure that the environment is left in a
good condition.
• Make sure you allow the fire to die down and then using a stick pile the embers up.
• Make a well in the middle.
• Pour water into this and use the stick to stir in the
embers to make a slurry. Watch out for the steam!
• Your guide to the fire being out is that you should be
able to pick up the embers with your hands.
If you are in a remote area you should scatter them over a wide
area where they will not be seen and remove any unburnt fuel to
where you found it.
On a camp site you should dispose of the embers where you are
instructed to do so.
Never bury the embers, they could cause an underground fire.
• Water the ground where you have had your fire and
replace any turf you may have cut.

Day 2-BANNOCK DAY-talk to kitchen
Bible Lesson: God is a consuming fire. Holy Spirit is like a refining fire in us.-Deut 4:24, Hebrews 12:28-29

Introduce the idea of a nest. Nests are a gathering of lighting materials that you keep in a water proof bag as you travel. It should literally look like a birds nest once you have one built up. They will stay dry and keep you from having to look around for tinder when you get to your camp spot.

‘Fire Lighters’
• Matches-
• Candle
• Lighters
• Flint and Striker
• Magnesium Block-important to note that the flint on the block does not have as hot a spark as the flint and striker. Shave or use a file to make a pile of magnesium
• Lens & Sunlight
• Battery & Wire Wool
• Friction Fire lighting
• Other Methods

Matches
Strike anywhere matches are often better than safety matches. They can be waterproofed by dripping wax from a candle over the heads. Be sure to carry them in a dry film canister If you have matches, always strike them into the wind. If the matches are damp or wet, wipe the striking end in your hair – the natural grease will help them to dry out. If matches are in short supply you can make them go further by splitting them in half lengthways. You can even buy special matches that will light anywhere…in high winds or even underwater! Lighting the match is important. Crouch close to the fire and strike the match (strike the match down the side of the box, head first at a narrow angle to the box…support the match with your fingers…if you strike a match by running it at right angles to the box the match may snap). Keep the match alight in cupped hands. Most matches go out because people try to light something before the match is alight. So, hold the match in your hand in such a way that the match can catch alight. When properly alight then put the match to the shavings in the same direction as the wind is blowing so that the flame is blown into the tinder.
Candle
If you light a match, light a candle with it. This saves you some matches. Having some cheap night lights will help you to light a fire in bad weather conditions. Simply light the night light and leave it in the centre of the tinder/kindling. This should give you more of a chance to get the fire going.
Lighters
These can be difficult to use and hard to light in certain conditions …however they can still be used to make a spark when they run out of fuel
Flint and Striker
This can be tried many time. When you strike the flint and steel together sparks are produced which can ignite good dry tinder. Most often they come as a 'kit' with a flint bloke, and a steel saw attached by a cord. Simply draw the saw across the block whilst holding it close to the tinder so that the sparks can fall on it.
Magnesium Block
This is very similar to a flint & steel lighter. You scrape magnesium from the block, turn the block over and run the spine of a knife down the built-in flint. The sparks will ignite the shavings.
Lens and Sunlight
You can use a lens to focus sunlight to a point. If there is enough sunlight it should produce enough heat to ignite the tinder. A magnify glass is the best known example for this technique but a telescope or camera lens could be used as well.
Battery & Wire Wool
Take two wires and connect them to the battery. Connect the other ends to some fine wire wool. The wire wool should start to glow and heat up.
Fire By Friction
Probably the most difficult method of them all This needs a lot of practice, a correct method, the right wood and lots of hard work! Methods include the hand drill, fire plough and bow fire.
Other Methods
There are a number of other methods of lighting fires, but many of them involve chemicals or more hazardous ways of making a spark to start the fire. A paper cup filled with mixed wood, tinder, and wax shavings
makes an excellent home-made firelighter. Place the wood and tinder in the cup and a couple of matches. Cover the entire cup (and match heads) with molten wax. You can scrape the wax off when ready to light.This method can also be used with a cardboard egg carton. These can be torn off and used individually or simple use the whole carton if the weather is bad! Similar waterproofing methods include smearing cotton balls in Vaseline or using rolled up newspaper tied with string and dipped in wax.

Have the groups build up their tinder pile knowing what item they will use to start the fire. Once they have everything in good order give them the starter. If it’s sunny just give everyone magnifying glasses. With this technique you will have to start your nest on fire first in the light then take it back to your tinder pile.

Types of Fire
Basic Fire
A simple fire, ‘hemmed’ in on at least two sides with logs or bricks, with a grid across the top to place cooking items on.
Altar Fire
This is basically a fire that is raised off the floor on a platform. These can be made from wood, but quite often metal is used, and half an old metal drum used to hold the fire.
Reflector Fire
A lot of heat from a normal fire is lost to the surroundings. A reflector wall will reflect much of the heat back towards the fire.
Trench Fire
Perhaps one of the simplest possible fires, the name suggests it all. Dig yourself a trench around 1m by 30cm (3 x 1 ft) and around 30 cm deep (1 ft). Place a layer of rocks on the bottom of the trench. Now build your fire on top of the rocks. By placing the rocks on the bottom, they will absorb and hold a lot of the heat. Even once the fire has died dow n the rocks can be used as a 'grill'. For general cooking you can use the pot rod holders in the camp gadget section, or a simple wire mesh across the trench with all your items on top, or even a spit placed across the trench.
Indian Fire
Two holes are dug into the ground in line with prevailing winds with a U shaped tunnel connecting them. A fire is light in the downwind hole and a piece of wood placed in between the two holes to control the amount of wind entering the upwind hole.
Star Fire
A star fire is formed by making a small fire and arranging logs around the outside facing inwards to form the points of a star. The logs are fed in lengthways and be drawn apart to leave glowing embers and ash (for cooking) in the centre. To start the fire going strong again simply push the logs together again. This type of fire is very useful for conserving fuel. It produces little flame or smoke when required and can be easily 'stoked' by
sitting back and pushing one of the logs inwards occasionally.
Signal Fire
once the fire has started pile on green leaves to choke the fire for a bit. To much and your fire will not burn enough to make smoke. To little and your fire will just burn up the green and no smoke will be sent up.

Using the fire
Now you have the fire alight you can use it. A cooking fire relies on using the hot embers, not on the flames! Build up a nice fire with good wood and let it form some hot embers well before you start cooking. Don’t try to light a fire ad cook straight away. You may find that a cooking fire will need extra fuel as it is being used. Simply move the pots and pans to one end and place extra fuel on the other end. Wait until it breaks down into hot embers and repeat.






Day 3

Hooray you have intermediates. This means you can do a bit a more with them, like a competition maybe?

Whoever has had the hardest time over the week gets choice at their lighting method. Give each group, candle, lighting method, empty tin can. You simply say GO and whoever can boil the water in the tin can first wins smores first. Loose points for not being first, loose all points for getting hurt or burnt.

Once someones fire is going take the pot off and give them their smore stuff.

THOUGHTS FOR NEXT YEAR
Outdoor Cooking
-how long to boil water
-cooking instruments
-setting up the camp to help you cook
Grates
Hangers
Etc
-Berry Picking
-Fishing-organizational fishing licensing
-Food as close to where it came from