Wet Weather Fire Tricks

Wet-Weather Fire Tricks

Stick with the sticky stuff. Needle-bearing trees are my first stop in wet weather because they usually contain sticky sap (pitch) in their wood. Pitch is generally very flammable. Select dead twigs underneath the protective shelter of pines and firs.

Strip it all off. Bark is a protective layer that helps shield trees from wildfire, so most bark isn’t especially flammable on its own. Tear, carve, or peel wet bark from sticks and kindling. There’s often dry wood just below the surface that will easily catch a spark.

Split the wood. Hardwood kindling that’s cut in half lengthwise will expose the drier inner wood and burn better than wood that isn’t split. The lower mass of these “half” sticks will also speed ignition in tricky situations.

Shape it up. A flat fire lay dooms many flame-coaxing attempts from the start. Build a 1-foot-tall cone of small twigs on a base layer of wood to get the fire off the ground. (The TIPI Configuration)