That is quite true, but how many fires will you have to light per trip, or per incident? Typically if you light a fire for dinner, cook on it, and keep it going for a bit for warmth, etc., by the next morning all you have to do is coax it to life again without using a match. I always tried to use one match for one fire.

Once camped in the Arizona desert, we were able to use desert ironwood for our fuel. Not only did we have a good cookfire in the evening, for breakfast all I had to do was put the teapot on the still glowing coals - they were still perfect for cooking. We probably should have tried to make iron or something.