Fire Triangles

The Basic Fire Triangle

For all fires, three things are necessary both to start them and to sustain them: Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel. Take any one of these three away and a fire will go out. It will also be impossible to start a fire without all three present.

• HEAT is the usual way that we start fires. We apply heat to some fuel and it ignites. There is always oxygen in our atmosphere, so we have the three necessary factors present. All primitive fire-making methods use heat to start.
• FUEL is what we add the heat to in order to start the fire. Once the fire is started, the heat from flames sustains the fire, and causes more fuel to ignite and burn.
• OXYGEN is needed to cause combustion to occur. Removing oxygen is the usual way that we put out fires, such as with water or covering them with earth or snow. This has the effect of smothering the fire -- cutting off the supply of oxygen. Without oxygen the fire dies.

The Primitive Skills Fire Triangle

With primitive fire skills, there are another three main factors which come into play: Skill, Materials, and Power. These can be envisioned as making up a triangle, as shown here:

However, if one of them is decreased, then the others must be increased.

For example, suppose you are trying to make a bowdrill fire with poor wood. It is still possible to do it, but your skill and power must be increased. Or, suppose you are not feeling very energetic (strong) one day and so have less power than usual. If your materials are of higher quality and you have a higher degree of skill, you can still get a fire. Another example ... Let's say you have almost no skill, having never made fire with a bow drill previously. Well, if your materials are of good quality, and you have power, then you can still make fire. Or, if you have not much power either, but your materials are of exceptional quality, then you may still get fire. And so on.

And finally, if you have any two of the elements, but are completely lacking the third, it becomes next to impossible to start a fire. For example, if you are highly skilled at a particular fire-making method, and have lots of muscle power, but you have no materials or extremely poor materials (maybe only water-soaked logs are available), then making a fire will be impossible or nearly so.

Of course, there are lots of exceptions! It doesn't take much power (muscle power, that is), to make a fire using a magnifying lens. One could say that the power is in the sun.

(Thanks to Rob Bicevskis for this explanation)

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