For many thousands of years, humanity has been making fires to warm its home and cook food. Without this, it is generally difficult to imagine human civilization. It is thanks to the ability to produce and maintain flame that people have become humans.
Why you need to know how to make a taiga fire
Of course, in the modern world, the need to make a fire for cooking and heating has disappeared. However, we all sometimes go camping or hunting, and the ability to make a fire in any difficult conditions will not be superfluous, even to a modern resident of the city.
People who go camping, especially in unfamiliar areas, must know how to make a fire. Indeed, sometimes it happens in nature that it will depend on this knowledge whether a person will survive. Experienced tourists know how to make a fire, having only one match, and they will do it, despite the weather conditions. If they do not have matches, they will find a way to make fire by using improvised means. To make a fire, you need to know some rules. Among them are: choosing the right place for a fire, preparing for the site, preparing fuel (firewood and kindling), and, of course, the main thing is to know how to make a fire in any weather.
Choose a place
Choosing a site for a fire is a very important condition for the fire to flare up quickly and not go out at the most inopportune moment. The first thing you should pay attention to is that the chosen place is as open as possible, but at the same time protected from gusts of wind. A large clearing in the taiga, on which there is a natural shelter (a large stone or hill), is best suited. They will protect from the wind and serve as a kind of heat reflector.
In no case should you make a fire next to trees, especially dry or small conifers. It is also dangerous to start a fire near the debris of deadwood, in places where there is a lot of dried grass, reeds or moss. You can not make a fire on peat bogs. In such places, especially if there is no experience, it is very easy to arrange a big fire. Therefore, an experienced person, before making a taiga fire, will clean a special area so that the fire is in the center of a circle with a radius of three meters, from which everything that can quickly catch fire is removed.In the center of this circle, where the fire will directly burn, a small hole is dug. If the soil in this place is peaty, make a special "pillow" of earth and sand. The nearest tent should be set up at least five meters from the campfire. Be sure to check that branches do not hang over the fire. They can dry out quickly and flare up, especially if it is needles. In winter, snow accumulated on the crown can fall and extinguish the fire.
In general, in winter, in order to build a taiga fire, it is necessary to take certain actions. Firstly, you need to install a small tray of raw logs and already lay dry wood on it. Such a device will even successfully maintain fire even in the snow.
Fuel preparation and collection
Stocking up firewood for lighting a fire, you need to give preference to the species of wood that are best suited for this. If it was necessary to make a bonfire in dry weather, you can use dead wood as fuel, but remember that deciduous is most often rotten, such material will not catch fire.
Another option for ignition is dead wood. In a deciduous forest, a birch is perfect for a bonfire. When burning, it leaves very good coals that will retain heat for a long time. In principle, any dry tree burns well, but some species do not give much heat. As for the conifers, which are most often found in the taiga, they burn very well, and when burned, such a fire maintains a high temperature for a long time.
Materials for kindling
In addition to firewood, fire also needs material for kindling. In the taiga, such material is most often dry bark, small cones of spruce or pine, dry moss or lichen. In birch grove you can use birch bark. This is an ideal kindling.
In areas of the taiga, which border the sea, dry bark of chosenia
(bog willow) is used. If kindling was needed in wet, damp weather, you can do it by splitting the dry trunk and collecting thin bends from the inside of the tree. You can also use the litter of needles , which accumulates under the roots of a tree, such material is excellently ignited. It must be remembered that if the stick is planed in such a way that thin burrs remain on it, it will flash much faster. Well and, of course, the presence of such simple and light substances as dry alcohol, or for example pieces of plastic will greatly simplify the ignition process, giving a hot flame.How to light a taiga bonfire
A little higher in the article it was already said how best to prepare a place for a fire. In order to understand how to make a taiga bonfire, you need to know the ignition methods that will help to make fire in the most difficult weather conditions. Fire must be protected on all sides from moisture. For example, if you have to make a fire in a marshland, you need to raise it above the ground on an improvised platform.
The installation of an awning, which can be made from improvised means, such as a piece of tarpaulin, or polyethylene, will protect the flame from rain. Such precautions are necessary, because if the fire goes out, it is very difficult to light it a second time in a humid environment. In addition to protecting the fire, you need to keep dry and fuel for it. This is especially true for kindling. You need to work with it very carefully, trying to protect it from wind and moisture. If the taiga bonfire is bred during rain, it is best to use either a
dry, combustible or greasy rag placed in an old tin can.
The more difficult the weather conditions (heavy rain, wind), the more tightly you need to lay the material for kindling. In some cases, experts even advise tying the fuel (bark, brushwood, bumps) into small bunches, in the middle of which you need to insert a piece of paper or an impregnated rag. Having put the kindling bunch to the very bottom, a small hut made of thin branches and dry bends is arranged above it. Then set fire to the fuse. When brushwood flares up, thicker branches begin to be planted in the fire. In very bad weather conditions (rain, wind) it is better to set the fuse on fire from several sides at once using several matches. The main thing is to remember the following rules: the taiga fire does not suffer haste, so you need to do everything calmly and prudently. To lay firewood gradually, as they burn through, starting with thin ones. It’s better to do it right once than to make a mistake and start all over again.
Today there are many ways to stack firewood. Each of them is applied depending on the circumstances and weather conditions. Much depends on the goal to be achieved by making a bonfire. For example, a wide bonfire is more suitable for heating; for cooking, it is better to use a cone-shaped bonfire.
Of the large number of ways to start a fire in the taiga, the following have become the most popular among tourists and hunters.
Bonfire "hut"
This type of taiga bonfire is used more often than others and is known to many. The meaning of its design is that firewood is stacked in the form of a hut. And they begin with the thinnest branches and brushwood, and thicker branches are laid on top.
A hole is left in the hut on the windy side so that it flares up better. This
type of bonfire is perfect for lighting a place of rest, as well as for cooking. In addition, the smoke of the taiga campfire protects the camp well from insects. The main disadvantage of this type of stacking firewood is its gluttony. Firewood in it burns out very quickly, so they need to be constantly planted.
Bonfire taiga "asterisk"
This type of bonfire is very economical, and is used if there are problems with fuel. His property - firewood stacked in the form of a star. For a "star" you need to select firewood from hardwood. Having laid a fire in the middle of the star, as the logs burn out, they are moved to the center. Thus, they achieve that the flame burns for a very long time. This ability makes the "star" indispensable in case of spending the night in the taiga.
Taiga bonfire "Nodya"
In this bonfire, a scheme is used when large, thick logs are stacked on top of each other, and a kindling is placed between them. The kindling, burnt, ignites the logs, after which they already burn for a very long time, emitting a lot of heat.
Such a bonfire can be used during an overnight stay. It burns rather slowly, while it warms well. Usually a node is made of two logs, however there is a taiga bonfire of a node made of three logs. In this scheme, two logs with kindling are laid down, and the gap between them is covered from above by a third log. Nodia is often done by hunters.