A matchsafe with SAW matches and a couple of trick birthday candles will be adequate for almost any situation provided you know how to find tinder, fuel and shelter. If there is a driving rain you will have to shelter your fire from the rain and wind and if you can do that you can shelter your matches and candle also. If you have flood conditions don't bother with the fire anyway. A little pile of magnesium shavings will be just about useless to me unless there is a dead calm conditions. Those suckers blow away with the slightest breeze. I am not looking to be prepared to make a new fire every day for several months. I am more concerned that I can light a couple of fires and keep them going until I am rescued. If I determine that I will have to walk out then I will carry an ember if I have run out of matches. I do carry a sparklite, a mini-bic, matchsafe as described above, sparklite tinders, pocket-lint, and often in the back-country I will have white-gas or alcohol but that would be considered lost with the pack and trioxane or esbit which would be in the belly pack and therefore perhaps retained. I also would usually have some ranger-bands and latex gloves. If you get either of those burning (perhaps over the trick birthday candle) you can burn just about any wood from there. A rangerband will burn hot and long and dry out your tinder and ignite it rather well. Stinks tho.