The wild frontier
by Cal Flyn
Sparks of life
They say that “there’s no smoke without fire,” but anyone who has spent a furious evening poring over a damp and discouraging firepit in the lashing rain knows this to be untrue. One can produce plenty of thick, dark smoke, over a long period of time, and yet still fail to produce flames for more than a few thrilling seconds at a time.
Starting a fire is the simplest and yet most exasperating of tasks. There are many methods, each based on similar principles, but I use one I learnt in the Arctic during a polar night that stretched out over a month: build a low square pyre of sticks, like a Jenga tower towards the end of a game, then fill the centre with easy-burning tinder (curling sheets of silver birch bark, or pages torn from a book). Light the tinder, lay another layer on top, voilà.