A camping trip can be easily ruined if it starts to rain and your fire goes out. But if you don’t already have a fire going, it can make building one seem impossible. With the right tools and knowledge, though, you can get one crackling in no time.
Corporals Corner tells us how to make a fire in wet weather conditions.
It’s a perfect method to get a good fire going if your tinder, kindling, and fuel are damp, marginal, or soaking wet.
Just in case you’re doubting him, the Corporal spent 4 years as an Infantry Team Leader and Trainer in the U.S. Marine corps and still has a passion for teaching bushcraft skills, which he exercises both on his YouTube Channel and as the leader at the Pathfinder School.
In other words, the man certainly knows a thing or two about survival and he’s worth listening to.
He suggests waiting until a storm slows or passes before using this method. It might not work in a torrential downpour.
First, you’ll want to grab a 55-gallon garbage bag or thick drum liner.
These things are versatile and can be used as a poncho or for water collection. In this case, you’re going to use it as a place to collect and protect your wood from the rain.
You’ll want to start collecting sticks that are the size of pencils, fingers, and your thumb.
While it might be wet on the outside, you can tell if your sticks are dry on the inside if they make a nice snapping noise when you break them.
Toss them in your bag.
Next, you’ll want to build a platform to build the fire on. To make it, lay about five thumb-sized sticks side-by-side.
Place your platform in the direction that the wind is blowing so the airflow from the breeze will carry through your fire.
Next, use the thinner sticks to create a V-shape around your platform.
The V should create a sort of wall around your platform. Then place a small bundle of sticks that are perpendicular to your platform and over the top of the point of your V.
Take an 18-inch piece of duct tape and roll it up like a cigar.
Do this three times, then make a triangle over your platform with the rolls. Light both ends of each roll with a lighter.
This will allow your fire to burn hotter and wider, as well as create some nice coals.
Next, place some pencil-sized sticks on your fire.
Follow with some finger and thumb-sized sticks. Once your coal bed is nice and hot, this should dry out the sticks that are on top of your V point.
Once those are dried, you can push them into your fire. Add more sticks from your bag on top of the V point to dry.
When you add sticks to your fire, add in the opposite direction of the previous sticks you laid.
So make one layer vertical and the next horizontal.
Make sure there is space between the sticks so air can get through it and your flames can climb up the fire.
You’ll also want to take care to alternate layers of sticks sizes. So, if you just put down large sticks, the next layer should be thinner sticks.
This will keep your coals hot which is crucial to keeping the fire going if it starts to rain again. Add larger branches once your fire grows. Toss smaller sticks or coals all along the side of the fire back in.
Learn more about this process in the video below!
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Source: Corporals Corner-YouTube, Corporals Corner
