50 AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE [OCTOBER 2019]
things you need if you’re by yourself, but
when you’re responsible for the welfare of
others, you need to take extra precautions.
I told the woman that I did not carry book
matches, since it’s too easy for the book
matches to get wet or moist and not work.
I sometimes carry stick matches but I had
none with me. I didn’t even have a cigarette
lighter, which I try to always carry. But I’d
made our earlier soup fire with the magne-
sium fire starter that I always carry on my
keychain. I figured we’re on our way out, and
these folks are in dire need. I took the fire
starter off my keychain and showed the Girl
Scout leader how to use it.
I scraped some of the magnesium block
into some scrap paper that we sheltered
from the light snow, and then I scraped the
ferrocerium insert so that a shower of sparks
ignited the magnesium. Presto! A bright fire.
The lady smiled and graciously accepted my
fire starter, and I told her to be sure and never
leave home in the future without at least two
ways — preferably three — to make a fire.
Do you have a knife for using the fire
starter? I asked her. Yes, she nodded, holding
up her Swiss Army knife. The Girl Scouts all
seemed cold, and they huddled about her like
baby chicks around the mother hen. After a
bit of small talk, she and her little children
disappeared back into the fog and snow. I
presume they made it out OK in the follow-
ing days because I didn’t read about them in
the local newspaper.
Needless to say, on our hike out, my hiking
class had a lively discussion about the
need to carry a fire starter, and everyone
speculated on how well the small Girl Scout
group would do in the snow during the next
few days.ALWAYS BE PREPARED
This incident emphasized the need to be
prepared with appropriate gear when going
on wilderness expeditions. This means having
not just the basic gear that you know you’ll
need but the gear that is appropriate for the
season. And one of the most basic of all gear
is some way to make a fire!
Rain is the most challenging, more chal-
lenging than snow in my opinion. If you’re
going to spend the night in the outdoors in
cold and wet weather, you need appropriate
clothing, rain coverings (such as ponchos), a
waterproof shelter of some sort, and having a
way to make a fire is a big plus. Regardless of
the circumstances, I find that I always needtocarrya knife,a firestarter(ideallyseveral),andcordage(forshelterandotheruses).
You could not make a fire in a modern tent unless you had a way to control a very small fire. In
a wilderness shelter, such as a brush shelter, you still don’t want a fire inside because the entire
shelter is very flammable. In wet and cold weather, you’d have to build the fire slightly outside
the shelter so you get the benefit of some of the heat. We’ve actually heated rocks in a fire and
rolled the rocks into our brush shelter so the rocks would radiate heat.
Though I have no idea whatever ultimately happened to the woman and her Girl Scouts, I hope› Above: One of
the author’s School
of Self-Reliance
classes learns
about several ways
to make fire.› Below left: Nicole
DeWeese shows
two of the most
essential items that
should always be
carried: a knife and
fire starter. Addi-
tional important
gear is on the table.› Below right: The
holy trinity of
survival: a knife,
fire starter and
cordage.“OUR FIRE WAS NEVER THAT LARGE, BUT
IT WAS ENOUGH TO HEAT SOME SOUP
AND TO WARM THE FIREPLACE STONES
JUST ENOUGH TO RADIATE HEAT FOR
OUR GROUP OF A DOZEN OR SO WHO ALL
HUDDLED VERY CLOSE TO IT.”