Countdown to Preparedness

While the Countdown to Preparedness is more about things like sheltering in place and bugging out, wilderness survival skills are also part of an overall disaster readiness plan. Learning and becoming adept at such skills is great for increasing your self-confidence. Making a fire, building a temporary shelter, and navigating your way back to safety from the middle of the forest are all basic, yet necessary, skills.

Being able to get a fire going is crucial to survival. Fire will keep you warm, cook your food, light up the night, and generally provide comfort in a stressful situation. There’s little else that can give peace and serenity like an evening spent watching a campfire.

Of course, there are many ways to start a fire. Matches, lighters, flint and steel, magnesium strikers, the list goes on and on. But all those tools boil down to the same thing—providing the spark to get the tinder lit. Really, that’s the easy part. Keeping the fire from dying out is harder.

Tinder consists of dry, easy-to-light material. Cotton balls, dryer lint, and paper all qualify. There are many natural sources as well, such as dried grass. The tinder should be material that will catch and hold a spark and burn long enough to start your kindling going.

Kindling are small sticks, at most about as big around as your finger. They should be dry and brittle. The drier they are, the easier it is to get them burning.

The idea here is to start small and work your way up. Tinder gets the kindling going. Kindling gets the larger twigs going. The larger twigs get the thicker logs burning, and so on. You can’t rush this process. Doing so will result in you having to start over. By adding too much fuel too quickly, you’ll smother the flames.

Clear a spot in your backyard to practice making campfires. Use your common sense here and don’t set up next to your wood privacy fence. Scrape the spot down to bare dirt. If you have one of those patio fireplaces, use that if you’d like. Gather a couple armfuls of sticks as well as a couple handfuls of tinder. Make a small teepee with the sticks and place the tinder inside. What you’re hoping to do is get the tinder lit and have it burn up through the teepee, getting the sticks burning. When the teepee collapses, you can slowly add more fuel.

While this is only one of many ways to build a campfire, I’ve found most people are successful with this method even without practice.

Once you have a small fire going, add larger sticks a little at a time to build it up as needed. You may be surprised at how small the fire can be and still warm you up on a chilly night.

This is a basic skill, and many of you probably mastered it long ago. But I’m sure you’ll all agree it’s an essential one and should be practiced until you’re proficient at it.

WEEK 20 ASSIGNMENTS

TASKS

1. Practice making campfires. Use different methods to light the fire and different materials for tinder. See what works best for you and what doesn’t.

2. If you don’t have these items already, add them to your shopping list for the week: strike-anywhere matches, magnesium strikers, and butane lighters. For those interested in more primitive means of fire making, do some independent homework on fire pistons, fire drills, and fire boards.

SAVINGS

Add $15 to your Prepper Savings Account.

TOTAL PREPPER SAVINGS ACCOUNT:

WATER STORAGE

One gallon (or two 2-liter bottles) per person or a case of bottled water for the household.

TOTAL WATER STORAGE:

GROCERY LIST

3 cans vegetables, your choice

2 cans fruit, your choice, but stick with those packed in water or juice, rather than syrup

1 can chili or stew, your choice

1 package or jar gravy mix

1 lb white rice