Here's a question. What were the circumstances surrounding the hardest time you ever had lighting a fire?

Granted when were were novices we had our difficulties as kids and such but what about now. What was the worst you ever had to deal with in the wilderness for lighting a fire.

For me, hands down, has been camping during rainy season here in Central Brazil. We're not exactly tropical jungle here (Mata Atlantica) but during the rainy season we have either rain or drizzle 24/7 for several weeks. The earth gets soaked to the bone and the sun does not come out at all.

The last time I camped out during rainy season it took me a full half hour to get the fire to light. This was after resorting to fuzz sticks and making my own wood shavings. I finally used a votive candle propped up inside a huge birdnest that had fallen. The candle dried out the tinder enough and it eventually took. Mac

I once engaged in a philosphical debate just to get warm <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> There is an anthropological concept called Appropriate Technology, which holds people should be encouraged to use what least impacts and maximizes their societal needs. The use of bicycles vs cars in Mainland China being one example. So, I am up in a forest with activists working to stop a clearcut ( disclaimer: I know many fine family owned lumber operations and individuals in the industry.) It is pouring down rain, we are soaked in spite of ponchos from crawling through huge ferns and all I want is a squaw fire and a cup of coffee. This 'Earth Mother' chastised me for gathering tinder and some slash." I was disturbing the ecosystem" as she produced a titanium pot, gas stove and some exotic herbal tea. I asked what the impact was using a gas product, exotic mined metal and the transportation impacts from many diverse planetary locations to avoid disturbing our locus? The crisis only deepened when I produced buffalo jerky from a Lakota friend <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My toughest time was some 20 years ago , one night in Chiloe,south Chile, while waiting to board the ferry to Chacabuco...

I am more used to drier enironments and didn't have a clue as to the conditions there: everything soaked in the endless thin rain- no chance for an easy fire. Wasn't a survival issue, just to have some fun and comfort out of the car. The sleping bags were up to the job, though:wife didn't complain not a bit

I have read many accounts where even indigenous peoples sometimes spent a miserable time unable to get a fire going. The 'primative' practitioners are very good with their various friction devices. They forget native peoples carried live embers in several carry modes and previously gathered tinder. Oetzi carried a live ember, flints and gathered mosses ( toilet paper or tinder <img src="images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> .) There is a very dangerous myth about 'Nature's Bounty.' Sometimes the caribou shift migration routes, that healing plant in the survival book is nowhere to be found and the biggest, black, spec ops knife will only produce sweat and wet wood.

Lighting a fire in public. My first uniformed job in the National Park Service was at Mesa Verde N P, guiding visitors through cliff dwellings and giving the occasional campfire. No matter how early you got to the campfire circle, there was always someone already there. Naturally you made the fire out of native materials - no newspaper, lint balls, or gasoline.

So I get my stuff together. Actually since Utah Juniper is abundant in the area, fire starting is a snap (usually). Arrange my twig teepee, strike the match, apply, and the flame starts up. I smile and turn away to chat with some visitors. After a few minutes, grins and chuckles on the faces of some of the other folks there cause me to look at my fire - no flame, just a thin wisp of smoke, pitifully dying. <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

This is a disaster! If I have to strike another match, I have lost my audience and I am a loser- geek of the worst kind. So, down on a knee, blow gently, add a needle, a twig, another needle,blow again, two needles, blow hard, add more twigs. Finally lay on a piece of squaw wood, and flame erupts. I pay attention to the damn fire and add more fuel as the crowd applauds.... <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I think the answer to your philosophical debate is that there are jsut too many people on the planet - however they light their fires etc., noticeable disruptions will occur. But I do think you have the better side of the argument. After all, fire belongs in many ecosystems, and native people burned the forests in California for thousands of years, doing a bit better job of ecosystem management than the folks now in charge.

The one in my fireplace. Good thing we were not depending on it for survival.