TEEPEE
One of the classic fire shapes, the tepee or cone fire gets its name from the shelter it resembles.
A tepee fire has a circular base with a wide diameter, letting in plenty of oxygen. To build a tepee fire, begin by laying down a large bundle of tinder. Next, use small pieces of kindling to form a tepee shape above the kindling. As the fire grows, continue to add larger sticks to the tepee structure.
One of the benefits of a tepee fire is its easy maintenance — simply lean more sticks against the frame to feed the fire as it burns. Because a tepee fire burns through wood fast, it is generally used to warm up quickly or for small cooking tasks such as boiling water.
If you want to use a tepee fire to cook a meal, wait until the wood burns through, and the cone collapses. Set a small pan or pot on the coal bed and feed the fire with small sticks or twigs to keep it going.
LOG CABIN
For a fire that is long-lasting and easy to maintain, try a log cabin arrangement.
Begin by stacking wood as if you were building a cabin — place two pieces of wood parallel on the bottom, then stack two on top, perpendicular. Repeat the process until your fire reaches the desired height, then place tinder and kindling in the center square and ignite.
Use your broader pieces of wood for the bottom and add thinner, lighter pieces for the top. You can also experiment with tapering the shape as it grows taller, creating more of a pyramid shape than a cabin.
As they burn, the logs fall in on one another, constantly feeding new wood to the coals. Because of this, a log cabin fire tends to burn more slowly than a tepee, making it a good choice for the evenings when you want to spend a few hours around a crackling blaze.
UPSIDE DOWN / PYRAMID
Similar to the log cabin type, the platform fire was designed to cook food. The main difference between the two styles is that the logs of a platform fire are stacked closer together, and you start the fire at the top instead of the bottom.
Because you start a fire at the top of the wood, the fire burns down the logs instead of up. This creates a solid, flat platform of hot coals, perfect for cooking — you can set pots or pans directly on the coals, and the fire will sustain itself as it burns.
To build a platform campfire, start by laying three or more pieces of firewood on the ground. Place three or more on top, perpendicular to the first layer. Keep adding wood until the fire is at least three levels high, and then set tinder and kindling on top of the platform.
STAR
When you are low on wood supplies, the star fire may be the perfect solution. It uses whole, un-split logs and burns them slowly at the ends to create a long-lasting and efficient fire.
To begin, gather four or five logs of any length. Build a small tepee fire with kindling, and drag the logs around it — one end should face the fire, and the other should lead away from it, like the points of a star or the spokes of a wheel. The tepee fire in the center will ignite the ends of the logs. As they burn, push the logs closer to the center to replace what has already been consumed.
LEAN TO
If you’ve camped in breezy conditions, you have experienced the frustration of trying to start or maintain a fire in high winds— it can feel as though you are constantly battling the elements, trying to sustain a blaze long enough to cook food and keep warm.
Next time you are in the great outdoors during high winds, try building a lean-to fire. Using its own wood as a windbreak, a lean-to protects your flames from frustrating gusts.
For the simplest style of a lean-to fire, find or place a thick log on the ground and lay your tinder against it, away from the wind. Lean your kindling against the log, so it covers the tinder — once you ignite the tinder, the kindling will catch and begin slowly burning the log. As the fire grows, gradually add larger sticks to build it up, and add another full-sized log to the fire when it is big enough.
