Picture the following scenario!
You’re camping off-grid where the nearest civilization is several miles away. You chose a remote campsite as you thought it would provide an excellent opportunity to interact more up-close with nature.
However, it suddenly dawns on you that you didn’t prepare adequately for the unforeseen. You make that unfortunate discovery when you run out of your lighter or matchbox and cannot start a fire naturally.
In such circumstances, time is usually of the essence. A little delay and you could quickly go hungry. And depending on the frigidity of the conditions, hypothermia could quickly set in.
That’s when you’ll appreciate the significance of possessing basic survival skills, such as making fire without matches. Read below to learn more about the importance of mastering natural fire-making skills.
Why Learn to Make Fire Without Matches or A Lighter?
1. It’s a basic survival skill
There are numerous survival skills that you can learn. One such expertise is how to make a fire without a lighter.
There are equally many courses that equip learners with the skills required to survive in the wild outdoors.
Most of these programs are offered in person, allowing you to put the learned skills to practice in a real-life environment. However, other survival techniques can be learned online through programs on video-based websites like YouTube.
2. You never know when the skill may come in handy
The idea of learning survival skills is that you never know when you’ll need them. The same applies to natural fire-making techniques.
Statistics indicate that major natural disasters are ever on the increase. Hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods have become commonplace thanks to the effects of climate change.
Your home could be swept away, and your village rendered impassable without notice. Basic survival skills, such as fire-making, would come in handy during such instances.
3. It can help you survive longer in the wild
We began by painting a picture of an off-grid camper who’s suddenly been unable to light a fire because they’ve run out of a lighter or matchbox.
There are many other scenarios in which life may pit you against the wild outdoors, such as plane crashes or shipwrecks.
There are usually already too many factors working against your survival in such circumstances. So, the least you can do to mitigate the situation is to use your learned natural fire-making techniques to keep warm or prepare food, all while hiding your identity from potential threats lurking in the wilderness.
4. It lets you invest in yourself
Learning to make fire naturally requires much time (and sometimes also) financial commitment.
However, the experience is ultimately rewarding. That’s because you’re investing in yourself.
When you possess fire-making skills, you know you can depend on yourself when the situation calls for it. You won’t need someone else to loan you their lighter or matchbox, which can be depressing when these items are in short supply.
5. It reconnects you with the early man
Humanity is more divided now than ever. How else do you explain long-drawn conflicts in the Middle East and constant hunger in Africa?
If we only cared to retrace our roots, we’d discover that we’re all descendants of a common progenitor – the Homo erectus. This very ancestor discovered the fire we use today some 1 million years ago.
Mastering natural fire-making techniques is an ingenious way to reenact the ways of the early man.
6. It reconnects you with nature
One exciting thing about survival skills is that they’re almost always put into practice once learned.
The moment you master a natural fire-making method, the next thing you’ll do is look for a place outdoors to test your newly acquired expertise.
Since most survival skills relate to the outdoors, they’re an excellent way to interact more closely with nature and be at one with it.
7. It makes rescue missions more successful
Mother Nature is incredibly beautiful to marvel at. But she can also be dangerously unforgiving.
Natural disasters like earthquakes can exert a heavy strain on rescue mission teams, both financially and emotionally.
However, knowing that the victims stranded in some remote location possess fire-making and other basic survival skills can make rescue missions more successful. It affords the teams ample time to carefully map out the routes instead of rushing in.
8. It’s fun
Learning any survival skill, whether fire-making or hunting, is undeniably challenging. You need a degree of patience and determination to get good at it.
But while the experience may be frustrating at first, it gets exciting as you go.
That’s precisely why many people with natural fire-making skills don’t always wait for a survival situation to test their expertise. They’ll occasionally retreat to the woods and practice the techniques learned for fun.
9. There are multiple skills to practice
Last but not least, there are numerous ways to learn how to make a fire without a lighter or matchbox.
Some of these methods are relatively basic and appeal to beginner survivalists. Others are a bit more detailed and require significant time investment.
Popular fire-making methods include the hand drill method, the bow drill method, the flint & steel method, and the traditional lenses method.
Wrap Up
Making a fire without lighters or matchboxes is a basic survival skill everyone should master. Like insurance cover, you never know when your fire-making techniques may be useful.