[quote=th

But here’s my point. Probably millions of people have gone camping and slept in a sleeping bag inside a tent without ever building a fire. If you are dry, have protection from precipitation and wind and have proper insulation, there is no probably no need for an extra heat source to get through the night.
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I quite agree that many have spent comfortable nights without a fire given a proper sleeping bag. And it is true that if you are dry, are protected from the weather and are adequately insulated, you do not need a fire. It is the absence of one of those three conditions that can rather quickly place you in a survival situation and require a fire; at least that is when I start getting serious about building one.

There is probably one other condition that should be stipulated - that you are eating adequately and are producing enough internal heat. If you are not producing heat, you will need a lot of insulation and/or an external heat source.

I sincerely hope no one is lugging around a battery and steel wool as a serious mean of starting a fire. It is a neat parlor trick and not otherwise very practical - at least there are numerous more effective techniques, like a Bic.