How to Build a Tipi Fire:
As with any fire, you must first choose a suitable and safe area for your fire. Most campgrounds have fire pits that are usually safe, but it’s still a good idea to have a look around. If you are camping in a primitive area, it is a must that you choose a good location and set up the campfire in a safe manner.
Look for any low-hanging branches that might catch sparks from your fire. It should also be at least 10 feet from any trees or brush, in the middle of a 10-foot circle cleared of any debris. Of course, it should be at least twice that distance away from your tent or any shelter.
Dig or scoop out a dish-shaped hollow in the middle of your fire pit. Make sure there are no flammable materials in the bottom of your fire pit. Roots, for example, can catch fire, smolder, travel underground for quite a distance, and burst into flames at some other place along the root system. Devastating forest fires have been started this way.
Be careful if you are using rocks to make a fire pit. River rocks or rocks that have been wet for a long time can explode in a hot fire, sending shards of rock flying. Wet rocks have pockets of water in them that when heated, become steam, expand, and explode the rocks. Choose rocks that have been sitting in a dry area for a long time.
Always keep a bucket of water close by, as well as some dirt or sand and a shovel.
Collecting Material for the Fire
Walking through a nearly empty campground once, I saw some odd looking wood someone had left behind near their campfire pit. Upon closer inspection, I noticed little hairy vines on the wood. Immediately I recognized poison ivy vines. I was horrified. Burning poison ivy creates toxic smoke which, when inhaled, can cause a poison ivy rash inside your lungs. Needless to say, this can be very dangerous. Be extremely careful about choosing wood for your campfire. Anything with hairy vines on it should be avoided. Even though there may not be any poison ivy leaves present, the vines can still cause a severe allergic reaction.
Collect all the material you will need for the fire first. There is nothing worse than lighting your fire, only to realize you don’t have enough wood to keep it going. You will need three sets of “Y-sticks”, a tinder bundle, and various sizes of sticks and wood (see below for specifics).
In general, it is better to collect all of your wood off the ground, as it is the driest wood. Look for dead branches and twigs. Make sure there is no green anywhere on the branch. The lower branches of pines are often excellent places to find dead dry wood.
Putting Together the Tipi Fire
A tipi fire is like it sounds, in the shape of a tipi or upside down cone. For the best way to put together a tipi fire, make a very small tipi inside a medium sized tipi inside a larger tipi (rather than making one large tipi). It is much easier to light when made this way. The small tipi catches fire, then the medium one, and finally the larger one.
First make a loose ball of fluffy tinder. Do not use leaves, as they catch fire briefly and then smolder. Try not to use paper, as charred paper and embers can float away from your fire, creating a fire hazard in the woods.
For the tinder, find dry grasses, inner bark, or any light, dry material. Work the material between your fingers until the fibers separate. It is better to use a few different kinds of material in your tinder bundle. It will catch fire more easily. Gather all the tinder into a light fluffy ball and place in the middle of your fire pit. You will be building the first, smallest tipi directly over the tinder bundle. Alternatively, you can make the small tipi first and later insert the tinder bundle into the middle of the tipi. I actually prefer this latter method.
Gather your smallest twigs. Usually people collect sticks for this first tipi that are too big around. To give you a visual, the first tipi should be made of twigs about the diameter of a couple of toothpicks put together or about the size of a Q-tip stick. Twigs that are as big as the diameter of a pencil should be saved for the second layer tipi.
It is vital that these first little twigs be extra dry. They should make a crisp snapping sound when broken. The very best twigs can be found on the lower, dead branches of pines. As these twigs have been up off the ground, they have not absorbed water. They should break away with a clean snap. You can use these dry twigs to start a fire even in a rainstorm.
Start building the smallest tipi first. Make a tripod of small-diameter Y-shaped sticks about 2 or 3 inches tall. For better stability, shove the ends of the Y-sticks into the ground. Carefully place very small diameter sticks vertically around the tripod, creating an almost-enclosed tipi. Be sure to leave a small door where you can get to the tinder bundle and light it.
Once your first tipi is complete, make a medium-sized tripod directly over the first tipi. Prop up three Y-shaped sticks to form a tripod, to give the second set of sticks some support. Then start placing dry sticks as thick as a pencil or your finger vertically around the tripod, forming a second tipi over the first one. Make sure to keep the opening in your tipis so you can get a match to your tinder bundle.
Finally, form a third tripod with larger Y-sticks over the entire structure. Don’t put it too far away from the second tipi. Flames from the second tipi will need to easily reach the sticks on the third tipi.
Place wood to form a tipi shape around this final tripod, using sticks with a diameter of a half-dollar to no bigger than the thickness of your wrist. This is sometimes referred to as “squaw wood” since Indian women would often gather wood of this thickness for their cooking fires.
Finally, if you want an even bigger fire, place commercially split logs in a few places around the final tipi shape. This will create some very tall flames, so be very careful with this and do not use many of these split logs in the beginning. As you add wood to the fire later, try to maintain the tipi shape.
This all takes a little time to put together. It also takes a little practice to get good at it. When I taught my summer camp students how to make these fires, I encouraged them to take their time and make it carefully, almost like a piece of art. They put some of these tipi shapes together so carefully and beautifully that I even hated to burn them. Oddly, the tipi fires that they put together the most carefully were also the best-burning fires.
If you are camping with children, get them involved in helping you build this fire. This is a great parent-child activity, and a chance to teach your children about respect for nature and its gifts. You can ask them how we use fire (or its equivalent) in our day-to-day lives. What would life be like without fire? Teach them how to find the driest wood and to be respectful of green, living things and not tear them off trees or plants. Explain to them how wood is kind of like stored sunshine. Plants need sunshine to grow. When you light a fire, all of that stored sunshine is released, giving us light and warmth a second time.
If you make this fire very carefully, you should be able to light it with just one match. Make it a part of your evening ritual in camp. Challenge yourself to light the fire with just one match, as if you were stranded on a desert island and one match was all you had. Use your imagination with kids and get them involved in the process of building a fire. They will enjoy the evening campfire more and can take pride in having helped to build it.
