Check out this Video. I saw Ray Mears do this on a dvd I have. Would this be a viable source of fire, in an emergency/survival situation? Is this stuff stable enough to carry in a pack?

Yes, but keep them far apart in your pack.

The KMnO4 (potassium permanganate) is a strong oxidizer which will try and react with stuff (skin, food, fabrics, fuel, etc). In small quantities it can be used as an antiseptic/antifungul. Eating 10-20 grams will kill you. It'll also stain most things purple.

The glycerine is harmless and is used in soap.

-Blast

When lacking all other means of firelighting then this is a perfectly viable means of firelighting. The method is as follows;

Put one teaspoon of Potassium Permanganate on to something flammable such as a sheet of paper or dry cloth i.e. cotton. Add a few drops of neat antifreeze (source of the Glycerine) then wrap the cloth or paper around the mixture tightly (this is to get the chemical reaction going). Place inside your tinder and wait a few minutes. It should ignite on its own to produce fire.

The Potassium Permanganate can also be mixed with sugar to produce the same effect using 9 parts Potassium Permanganate to 1 part sugar. The finer the grains of Potassium Permanganate and sugar then the chances of it igniting when crushed between two stones will be greater.

In the same way as Potassium Permanganate, Potassium Chlorate (3 parts) to Sugar (1 part) mixed together and initiated with some car battery acid will produce a similar effect but burns a little bit more fiercely.

Potassium Permanganate is best kept in the medical kit as an antiseptic and antifungal. Its multiple uses make it a very useful chemical and can even be used to sterilize water in low concentrations in a dire emergency (not recommended though). Sugar is best kept for the hot tea.

Potassium permanganate is also been fairly hard to find for a while, at least around here. It's got a lot of uses, but there are more error forgiving things that are a lot more stable for all of them. It's a jack of trades, master of none, and watched by the Feds IIRC.

i may be confused, but is potassium permanganate the main active compound in some of the powdered, industrial strength drain-clog products? i was having a hard time remembering the exact name of the chemical, but thought i had found it next to the draino at home depot. IIRC it was a green powder. i had no use for a 5 gallon supply, and because i wasnt 100% it was the right stuff i didnt buy it. any ideas?

This mixture is sometimes used by the U.S. Forest Service to create backfires or controlled burns. The Potassium Permanganate is contained in a ping-pong ball type plastic capsule and the Glycerine is automatically injected into the capsule just prior to the capsule being dispensed from an aircraft. This makes it possible to create a large fire quickly.

I bought a small quantity of KMnO4 on eBay about 3 months ago.

That may have been potassium hydroxide, but I'm not dead-certain-sure.

Sue

Active incredient in most common drain cleaners is sodium hydroxide, also called caustic soda-lye.

Just a thought:
Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's practical.
Rather than carry two messy chemicals, why not invest in a couple more butane lighters and some additional fire starters?