>>1230492It depends on the location, fuel type, fire containment type if any, tools you have, and weather conditions. A simple on the ground camp fire using standard deadfall from the surrounding woods using a Bic lighter & knife would be as follows:
•Clear area, for the fire, in a radius of 5 feet/1.5m. Remove all leaves, debris, dead grass, etc.
•Probe the ground directly under the intended fire location for tree roots. Move to a new location if there are tree roots within 6 inches of the surface (dry soil will conduct heat down better than moist soils). A thing wire tent peg is great for probing. Just make a grid of probe wholes 2 inches apart over the entire are to be burned. Alternatively, you can make a plateau of soil/sand/rock 6 inches high and start a fire on that.
•Collect single handful of tinder no thicker thick than a pencil lead (straw/dried grass/dry leaves/etc), double handful of kindling as thick as your pinky, and an arm load of logs as thick as your wrist (fuelwood).
•Use the knife to make feather sticks out of at least 4 pieces of kindling.
•Make a bed of tinder in and under 2 feather sticks. Light it with the lighter. Once it starts to get going, place two more feather sticks on top.
•Start placing kindling, in the shape of a tee-pee, on top of this growing fire.
•Begin placing some of the fuelwood in the fire. If the wood it so long to stand up in tee-pee shape, simply lay it on the fire in a star pattern.
•Add more fuelwood as needed. Place any wet or damp wood near the fire to dry before placing it on the fire (white smoke is smoke with water vapor in it. black smoke is fuel being burned inefficiently, clear gases are when the fire is burning most efficiently.
If the wood is wet and the kindling is wet, you'll need to make the shavings on the feather sticks much finer and thinner than normal while going deeper into the wood. You may need to make more feather sticks. If the tinder is wet, you'll need to use more tinder and light it longer.
