SPEAR Lesson 15 Fire 1.2 Fire Purpose and Safety

Why is fire so important? 

SPEAR Lesson 15 Fire 1.2 Fire Purpose and Safety

          In wilderness survival the most popular lesson that you will find probably has to be fire starting.  This is mostly because it is an easy lesson to do and it films well. But here in the SPEAR course we need to look at this lesson a little deeper to find out why we need to know this at all.  

          Fire was undoubtedly a game changing skill for primitive man.  It allowed them to cook their food, heat their bodies and keep away predators.  In the pioneering days of the US they used fire to do much of the same things with just better equipment and skill.  Fires were used to smoke meat and fish to prolong their shelf life and the fires that warmed them were put into small wood stoves that allowed them to use it as a stove to cook on as well.

          Today the very same things apply.  The improvement from the prehistoric times to the pioneering times continued into today. We have made improvements to the way that we start fire and how we use fire as well as how to keep the fire under control.  For survival training though we have to pretend that none of these advancements were ever invented.  You need to be able to use fire in its most basic form so you don't get too comfortable with modern items that you may not have when you need them.

          Lets take a brief look at some potential hazards you might face where fire would save your life:

1.  You are out hunting and you twist an ankle making walking impossible.  The temperature is dropping into the single digits tonight and you are already feeling the chill.  Without a fire to get through the night morning will probably never come.
2. The power has gone out and you have to cook the food in your freezer before it is all spoiled.  Without fire to cook the food  you might need to eat uncooked meat leading to food poisoning or just lose it all.
3. You are lost in the woods and need to find your way out.  You have enough food in your back pack to last for two more days but your canteen in gone.  You find a small stream where you can fill up your canteen but you don't know if the water is contaminated with bacteria or parasites.  Without a filter or disinfectant tabs the only way to treat the water is to boil it.  If you were to choose to drink the water you could start to show symptoms in as little as 24 hours. This would make moving very difficult and escape almost impossible.  More than likely you would become dehydrated and within days would perish.

Fire is an essential skill that everyone should know and one that SPEAR students will master.  To have the ability to make fire and cook food will make the difference between life and death in a long term crisis.  

          Fire making is important but fire is a dangerous element that can cause serious damage.  When you use fire or practice with fire you need to make very sure that the fire is out when you are done.  Forest fires will ruin your training area and potentially do far worse than that.  Make sure that you put enough water on your fire that it stops steaming.  This may take several trips to the creek for water but it is a great rule to live by.

          In a long term disaster the fire departments might not even be still in operation.  If you are careless around your house it may burn to the ground from the smallest of fires without proper equipment to put it out.  

          The final item on this lesson is one that you won't find in many of the other fire lessons or classes out there.  The energy of fire.  I am not referring about steam power or anything like that.  Fire itself has energy, fire is energy.  The kind of energy that you can feel deeper than your body.  

         The energy, or chi, of fire is what makes you relax and just stare at it for hours.  It helps your brain settle and focus.  It helps your soul heal.  Small campfires are the first lesson of magic in this course.  The next time that you build a fire take some time and just sit and enjoy it.  Feel it, not just in your skin, but in you spirit.  Feel it connect with your spirit and see where it goes.

          This magic is very helpful to calm a scared group.  Before you explore your options start a nice fire and let people connect.

Please share your comments on fire magic below then go out and make some magic or your own. 


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