Building A Campfire :: essays research papers

There are many different campfire structures that can be built to start a fire while camping. The most common are the teepee, log cabin, dugout, and tunnel structures. Almost anyone can build these fires if he or she follows some key points. A fire needs three elements: air, fuel, and an ignition of some kind. For a campfire the air element is easily accessible; it's the air a person breaths or oxygen. Fuel is equivalent to wood. Sometimes lighter fluid is used to start big fires immediately, but usually when dealing with a campfire the fuel is wood. Ignition can come from a spark, match, or lighter. It is anything that initially starts the fire. Going deeper into wood, there are three categories to classify it under. Kindling is the stuff that is easiest to burn. It could be leaves, dryer lint, or very small twigs. The next size of wood is sticks and small logs. These will range in size from one half inch to two inches in diameter. Anything larger than this is classified as the fuel. The fuel is the big logs that will burn for hours. When a fire is started it needs to be built like this: kindling first, then sticks and small logs, and then the fuel, once the fire is going good. Using this technique with the following fire structures will ensure hot easy fires. The teepee style structure is probably the most used and easiest to build, but doesn't necessarily result in the hottest or longest burning campfire. To build this fire think about the name "teepee." The end result before burning this structure looks like an Indian's teepee (If the teepee shape is not familiar, then envision a conic shape). Start by placing the intermediate size wood or sticks in the ground in a circular shape about eight to twelve inches in diameter, leaning the tips of the sticks together in the center. The sticks should already start to resemble a teepee shape. Continue layering the walls of the teepee with more sticks, but not too thick, because air needs to be able to pass through the walls easily. Leave a hole on one side large enough to place kindling inside the stick walls. This hole is also left to light the kindling from the inside and may be filled in once the fire is lit. Once this is completed, the structure should be a recognizable teepee or cone shape. The kindling should be lit on the underside inside the teepee walls through the hole