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Outdoor Corner: Staying alive in extreme cold
Gene Plihal
for Smoky River Express
If you forgot matches when you go into the outdoors, you are probably too stupid to start a fire by any of the other methods. Mors Kochanski’s memorable paraphrased quote on the matter of extreme cold and starting a fire is sage advice. Don’t forget matches.
About 30 years ago I challenged a group of outdoor students to start a fire with a bow and drill method (rubbing sticks as it is often called). I promised any student who could do so an automatic “A” in the class and free reading time in the library for the balance of the semester. The next day, after the challenge, I received a call from a parent who said, “Jimmy (name has been changed) stayed up all night trying to start a fire in our basement rubbing sticks next to our fireplace. He didn’t get any sleep and he didn’t get a fire going!”
A long dead stereotype, and probably profiling of sorts, went along the lines that when an Indian made a fire it was made small and the Indian stayed close to keep warm. When a non-aboriginal makes a fire, it is made large and the person stands a long way away from it. There is virtue in both of these types of fires as we shall discover shortly.
A small fire requires less fuel and a large one requires lots. So, for starters, the person has to make that call at the onset of building the fire. Is there ample fuel in the vicinity to keep a big fire going? If conditions are severe and ample fuel is available and it is likely you are going to be next to your fire for some time, build a large fire, even if you don’t have an axe or saw.
Fire itself may be utilized to cut your fuel into more manageable pieces. Wherever you find trees have fallen across each other or if you can make two or more to cross in one place, you might use a fire to burn through the wood.
Many dead standing trees are relatively easy to push over and even easier to pull over with 15 metres of light rope.
Dry wood that is less than 10 centimetres in diameter (that can be circled with the fingers of both hands) can be broken by levering between two trees. Alder of any size can be broken into stove wood lengths by hitting the log against a tree. Use a dead tree as this injures live ones.
Starting the fire involves use of tinder. Birds nests, tissue, dry grass, birch bark, or the tiny branches hanging from black spruce (spruce bundle) works very well. These are placed at the base of the fire building project.
Second come kindling. These are light thumb thickness sticks. Once the tinder is ignited, it must continue burning into the light wood before heavy wood is added.
Finally, heavy logs, starting with good dry fuel if possible, should be placed on the fire. A larger fire that will force you to stay further away, will more readily use poorer fuel, reduce spark or burn damage to clothing and give fewer problems with smoke. It will, of course, use up more fuel, but that is preferable to the discomfort of the cold and smoke and the hazard of damaged clothing. A proper fire at minus 40 is surprisingly large.
Dissertations have been written by outdoor writers who readily display their lack of experience by their directions on the use of fire in cold temperatures. Many seem to be preoccupied with some sort of conservative notion that relates to general camping or perhaps weiner roasts.
They usually illustrate a small, localized fire of about a size that would be adequate to boil a pot of tea in the summer, made of stove sized wood. The user is often depicted with palms outstretched presented to the radiance of the fire. You may doze for snatches five minutes or so on a cool summer night with such a fire.
At -40 the fire must be as long as you are tall and large enough to force you to stay at least a step away from it because of its intensity. Even so, at one step distance a pot of water may freeze on the side away from the fire.
On your next excursion in coming weeks, remember the matches. A package should be on your sled, in your truck, in your camper and on your person. You may have only one chance to remember this simple means of igniting a fire which may be life saving.
Have a good hunt, but more importantly, be a safe, warm and good hunter.
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