Fire Problem Solved

my only real bit of true survival equipment is the PFD geared up to be a ditch kit,it's gone out on all my wilderness canoe trips since the 80's. not the same vest or gear as i've made improvements adding and sometime removing items.
the one item that i really felt was the most important was a sure fast way to make a fire. once i was able to get ashore after dumping the canoe with the loss of all my camping gear i would be on the edge of hypothermia in those cold northern waters.
at first it was just a magnesium block,match safes and some in sort of fire starter.later several kinds of canned heat were added but that was filling up space in the PFD pockets.
a few years ago i fell onto the answer by way of the smaller Gaz burner heads and cartridges that came into the market.
in the end i'm using that "orange box" burner with a piezo electric sparkier and a 3.88 cart from Optimus.
not only do these fit my PFD pocket but also into the cup/cover from a 123 Primus stove.



now i can have a sure fast way to make fire.the pocket holds the stove,a cart in the 123 cup along with the pot holder and a spoon.
the photo was taken this fall after the canoe season was over and the PFD was being cleaned up.for the trips everything would be inside bubble wrap and a zip lock along with matches,a sparker and some odd and ends.




the other pocket has a foil bag and blanket for making a shelter,a head net,ration bars and tea with sugar packs.

next trip out i'll have a PLB so these items should hold me over until the ride home arives.

Nice! Looks very practical.

I have two of those stoves, they do put out a nice amount of heat. I assume you have backups sources of ignition as well since the piezo electric starters on those tend to crap out at the wrong time. Does the bubble wrap and ziplocks keep out the water to your satisfaction?

I carry mini orion road flares for those no mess around fires.

Is that part of the GP-I ration? If so I am jealous :P

Interesting solution. I haven't used those small, light, hot cannister stoves but I can see how they could be a game changer when someone is on the edge of hypothermia.

Building a fire takes time, mental focus, and dexterity -- exactly at the moment when these things are potentially lacking.

burn--yes i have a few.in the PFD storm matches and a small Bic.
in the clothes i hope i'll be wearing when i get ashore i'll have a fire steel along with the knife i always carry.
the bubble wrap and zip locks,i use two,have worked so far but i'm careful about how i handle the PFD,not sitting on it or tossing it around.
and yes those are the rations.i had a lucky buy a couple years ago.the ones in the photo are just a couple of what i can cram in the pocket.added to hot water they make a filling mush,thats what the spoon is for.
i had a bigger kit that i made a Youtube demo of but feel i don't need anything that complex anymore as a PLB is my next big buy for 2014 trips.
the canoe country in northern Minnesota has a lot of birch and pine so once you can beat that first hour of wet and cold it's easy to find what you need to make a big fire.



stomping on a rotten birch log and cutting or just pulling off the bark and i would have a fire in seconds.which i have done plenty of times for a shore lunch of fresh fish!

Doug..i have thought about what it would take to fumble the stove out of the pocket and put it together.working a match case open and handling matches with wet cold hands or holding a fire steel and striking it into some sort of tinder or fire starter would seem to harder.the stove and cart are larger and you could even "palm" the burner on if you had too. the valve and lighter button i would think could be worked even with stiff fingers..
which makes me think about gluing something in the lighter button to make it easy to push..a winter project there--

Interesting approach, CDogs. I'm curious as to how fumbly it would be to assemble and deploy the stove to make fire when the hands are cold and numb(ish). It seems that it may be a bit dodgy to safely handle the burning stove with one's hands in that state as well. However I am confident you have considered that.

During this firemaking training I am not sure I could have safely handled a burning stove.

I don't have as much wilderness canoeing experience as C Dog, but I have been fairly active in the woods and upon the waters of this great state for many years. I have fallen out of my canoe a couple of times over the decades while fishing or hunting; once in the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and once in a backwoods river.

I like C Dogs idea of a floating vest with a survival kit.

In my younger days, I was duck hunting on a backwoods MN river on a snowy day in November in a canoe with a big, sweet, old, but poorly trained, dog. All of my gear, including shotgun, shells, daypack, etc were laying in the bottom of the canoe. When the dog saw something swimming in the water, it leaped out suddenly and capsized the canoe. As I rolled into the water, I was amazed by how cold it was as it ran in through every opening in my canvas hunting gear. My prescription glasses were the first thing to head to the bottom, followed by my shotgun, shells, and all of my gear. As I clung to the overturned canoe, pondering my limited options, I decided that since I was already soaked to the bone, I might as well dive to the bottom and retrieve what I could. I found my gun sticking muzzle down in the mud, and was able to dive down again and retrieve some of my other gear. I never found the glasses.

Not to be overly dramatic, I did have a companion in another canoe not too far away that assisted, but even after a warming fire lit with a Bic, my day of hunting was ended as I paddled out cold, wet, and without glasses. Could have been much worse.

I learned some valuable lessons about fire, canoes, dogs, guns, and gear.

I like C Dogs idea of a floating vest with a survival kit.

Yup, wise move for sure. In swiftwater rescue training they insisted we have reliable firemaking gear in our vests (among other items). The scenario is that you're doing a night rescue in tough conditions, get separated and float downstream a long ways, then extricate yourself to find that you're on an island or on the wrong side of the river. Better be able to get a fire going.

the last couple trips i've made have been in some well used areas.
i'll be getting knee surgery in the spring so i've been staying on easy portages with other canoe trippers around.
in the past i've been up in Canada where i did not see anyone for a week.when i get back to the real backwoods again i plan to wear the PFD when i'm on the portages.
falling or getting injured on the carry would be worse than a swim to shore.at least lake side you would have water and the chance to wave down passing canoes or be in the open where flashing a passing float plane is easy.
back in a carry you may as well be in the woods.with the PFD on shelter and a fire would be handy and you would not be tempted to drag yourself along to get to your pack possible doing more damage.
this is where the PLB is the life saver.i the past i never thought i would want or need one plus the cost was a factor.
then i had some car repairs done and looked at the bill and put it on the card.it hit me that for half the car cost i could get a PLB and cut the survival gear and hassles in half.

I really really need to pick up a PLB.

I presume you will still carry your fire making gear, even if you have a PLB? Having a PLB would be great, but in a remote area, rescue could still take awhile. It would suck to die from hypothermia an hour before the SAR team arrived.

I too need my glasses to see well. When doing outdoor stuff, I always have "croakies" or another similar thing to retain my glasses in case I take a spill. I also always keep a spare pair of glasses in my gear.

The nice thing about sea kayaks is that your gear stays inside the hatch, and doesn't get lost if you capsize. However, when out on open water, if you flip and don't quickly grab the boat, the wind can carry it off faster than you can swim. I always keep some fire starting gear in my pockets, and in the pocket of my spray skirt. If I can make it ashore, I might be able to get a fire going. (I say "might" because coastal Alaska can be very wet. There are times when getting a fire going is very challenging, even with good fire starting gear.)

Aksar..yup..i always have some sort of fire making tool.with those fire steels they have out now that seem to work so well i keep one in a shirt pocket.
when i read on this site about someone who went over the side of the road and was not found for days because her calls for help could not be heard i now carry a whistle,and the fire steel, even on day walks down by the Mississippi River.
Phaedrus..like i said when the cost of a PLB is less than some car work that was not all that important i'll be buying one.
i can't recall the older cost for a PLB but it was enough that i put off getting one.