Steel wool and a battery is probably the most popular way for making a fast lively fire in the annual Klondike Derby that the local BSA council runs. The boys bring it in their sled full of gear, and every couple years there's a sled that starts smoldering along the way... the boys sometimes don't isolate the battery from the steel wool, and as they are pulling the sled around the camp, bouncing things around... they learn quickly!
Would they still get the full points for using that? In order to get the full points for our Derbys here they had to start a fire with real flint and steel or bow drill. Anything else and they would knock off points.
For this event, they could use the steel wool. They had another where they had to use flint/steel. The goal of this one was to prepare a fire from tinder on up, that could be lit, and then build itself, without tinkering with it, into a large enough fire to burn through a string that was above the fire at a certain height. Sometimes, an alternate would be that the fire had to melt through a plastic bag full of water that was suspended above the fire. (In theory, putting the fire out at the same time.)
The event was good, because it emphasized preparation before you light the match, or strike the flint, (or touch the battery to the 0000 steel wool). Once they lit it, they couldn't touch it, blow on it, add to it, etc. It's an interesting exercise. The boys huddle around and cheer for the fire to melt through the bag of water like it's the Superbowl.
The natural materials firebuilding is a great event too, and they do that with materials they can find around the camp, along with a BSA flint/steel. (They could do a bow drill too if they wanted, but, we only have a weekend
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