4-7 sheets of newspaper

2 -3 handfuls of dry kindling, about 1/4-1/2" thick(1-1.5 cm) and 12-18" long (30-45 cm)

4-5 logs of firewood that have been split and seasoned

A pair of fire-proof or heavy leather gloves

Long wooden matches or a butane lighter

A fireplace screen, or a fireplace with enclosed glass doors

Optional:

3-4 pieces of fatwood kindling--a highly resinous wood that can be used in small amounts as a fire starter

A set of fireplace tools: a poker, a pair of tongs, a small shovel, a pail for ashes, and a broom

A flashlight (pocket torch) for rummaging around in the dark for suitable firewood. Get one you can easily tuck under your arm once your hands are occupied with holding the wood.

3-10 minutes to gather materials

5-10 minutes to assemble a fire

Bellows: a hand-operated air pump that's used for fireplaces without doors.

Flue: the column of air inside the chimney or stove pipe that circulates and creates a draft, thus feeding the necessary oxygen to the fire.

Grate: a metal structure present in some fireplaces (not in wood stoves) that supports the weight of the logs and kindling, and allows for optimum air circulation.

Kindling: The twigs and small branches that ignite the logs and provide the first base of coals for the fire.

Got a hot one? Here's a checklist for chimney fires: if you have a lot of smoke in room combined with any of these signs--a load roar, shaking pipes, hot spots on the wall or chimney--you may have a chimney fire on your hands. If so, get everyone out of your home, and call 911 from a neighbor's home.

Smoked out? If your flue is open but the smoke won't go up (and fills your house instead) then consider the location of your chimney. Is it located on an exterior wall of your home? If so, the chimney may be too cold to draw air. To warm up your chimney, put on a fireproof glove and light up a rolled-up piece of newspaper. The heat from the burning newspaper will force the cold air in the chimney outside, which will start the flow of the air through the chimney.

If you regularly use your chimney even once a week, you should consider having your chimney swept once a year. If you're not inclined to stroll around on your roof, then have a professional do it. But have it done: dirty chimneys won't draw air well, and if neglected long enough, can cause a fire.

Save the trees: Use fabricated firewood logs (made of compressed wood chips, sawdust, and binding materials) if you're concerned

2torial #0702: Learn2 Make a Fire in a Fireplace   Come on baby, light my fire... Gathering around a cheerful blaze and staring into its fiery depths--that's something that people from all walks of life can appreciate. It calls you back to an earlier time, when early humans huddled around fires for warmth and protection from animal predators. You feel some of the same satisfaction and security (even if the large predators of today are creditors and tax auditors). Although there are some differences between making a fire in a traditional fireplace and a wood-burning stove, this 2torial will assume you have a traditional fireplace, and will add notes for wood-burning stoves as needed. A fire constructed with perfect form and bone-dry materials will still fizzle out if you don't understand the role of the flue. The flue is the channel inside the chimney or stove pipe that circulates air and creates a draft, thus feeding the necessary oxygen to the fire. The flue has a kind of valve (or doorway) that opens or shuts off the flow of air through the chimney, known as the damper. A handle (or a chain or other device) opens and closes it, and it's usually located in the fireplace near the bottom of the chimney. For wood stoves, there's usually a handle located on the side of the stove, towards the top and at the back. Take a flashlight and familiarize yourself with the operation of your damper--and the position of its handle or chain when it's open or closed. This will prevent the unnecessary smoke-outs and bleating smoke detectors that inevitably follow careless damper operation. Prepare materials and the area For materials, you need three categories of wood products: plain black and white newspaper, kindling, and logs. A few notes on these three components: Newspaper As you gather newspaper, remember one word: creosote. Creosote is a black, dusty yet sticky by-product of wood and wood fiber combustion. It coats the insides of chimneys and can eventually cause a chimney fire, which can be very destructive. So, you're best off using a moderate amount of newspaper. It's also a good idea to avoid using newspaper with color pictures or glossy advertisement inserts. Color inks contain chemicals which, at best, might smell bad when burned, and at worst, could be slightly toxic. You don't neccessarily have to cull all color from your stockpile of paper--but then again, you'll definitely want to avoid making a bonfire of your Christmas giftwrapping. Kindling Think of it this way: if your fire was a movie at a film festival, the kindling would get the award for best supporting actor. It has the crucial set-up role of generating flames hot enough to ignite the logs. And as they burn out into embers and slip into the background, the logs (the stars) get all of the attention. Very soft, resinous woods like pine or Georgia fatwood can be used as kindling, a few sticks at a time. (Don't use more than that, or again you're increasing the creosote levels unnecessarily.) Otherwise, use twigs and small branches that are about 1/4 - 1/2 inch (1-1.5 cm) thick and 12-18 inches (30-45 cm) long. Some lumber yards sell raw scrap lumber for kindling, which is usually kiln-dried and ignites very well. Not all lumber belongs in the fireplace, however; most finished or specially treated lumber will release potentially toxic chemicals when burned, so make sure you're getting raw, untreated lumber. Logs Logs are the main course of this inflammable feast: thick chunks of wood that will burn for up to two hours if they're hardwoods. Oak, hickory, ash and cherry are examples of hardwoods, and this is the best kind of firewood available. Although all woods give off the same amount of heat when burned, hardwoods are heavier and burn more slowly and cleanly. This means fewer logs to put into the fire, fewer logs to fetch from a woodpile, and less creosote build-up inside the chimney (which means a safer fire). Softer woods like maple and elm are fine to use--just be sure you don't pay hardwood prices for them, because they won't last as long in your fireplace. No matter what wood you choose, the key requirement with logs is seasoning--meaning, the number of seasons it's been dried. Wood consists of tiny tubes that carry water up and down the tree while it's alive. Yet when it dies, the water remains and can take years to evaporate--unless some humans come along and cut the wood into sections and then split it. If it hasn't been properly seasoned, the wood won't burn well: it'll emit a lot of smoke and will require a lot of attention to stay lit. Signs of seasoned wood include darkened areas at the edges and a slightly high-pitched "clink" when struck together. Green, unseasoned wood won't actually be green, so you can't tell by that--although the ends will bear evidence of recent sawing. Green wood will also sound a deeper, wetter "thud" when you strike two pieces together, so you can listen for that. If you buy a large volume of firewood, play it safe and buy it in the spring--it'll have six months to dry out and will be perfect for the winter season. Prepare the site A couple of inches (5-7 cm) of ash is a good base for the coals that will form from the kindling. But don't use more than that, or the fireplace area will start to get messy. Scoop out excess ash with a small metal shovel that commonly a part of fireplace utensils. Store the ash in metal cans or pails--embers can remain hot for a week--and adding live embers to a garbage can or compost pile is an obvious fire hazard. Open the damper If you forget, you'll remember once the smoke starts billowing into the room and the fire alarms go crazy. Build a fire You'll start from the ground up, being careful to make a structure that will hold together during the early stages of the fire. If you make a fire that collapses after the first 30 seconds, the fire may smother itself and you'll have to start over.   The foundation: Here's where yesterday's newspaper comes in handy. The newspaper serves to ignite the kindling, which in turn will ignite the logs. Take four or five full-size (two page) sheets and crumple them up into a grapefruit-sized balls, or a little smaller than that if you're feeling energetic. Place them on the floor of the fireplace and under the grate, if there is one. Resist the temptation to add more than seven paper balls to the fire. You'll certainly have a dramatic start to your fire, with flames ablazing up the chimney, but over time excess newspaper use will create a lot of creosote. The kindling: Distribute and place for breathing. Add two handfuls of kindling. Distribute it evenly over the newspaper (or on top of the grate, if there is one), so that the logs will have fairly uniform surface to rest on. But place the sticks of kindling at an angle to each other to allow for air and flames to come through. Break up any kindling that extends far beyond the base of the fire, or doesn't fit easily into the wood stove. The logs: Add two smaller logs to start with, rather than one monster log. And ideally those logs should be split. The larger and thinner surface area of a split log allows it to ignite more easily. As with the kindling, don't lie the logs on top of each other. Place them at an angle to one another, to allow air and flames to come through. Leave out any lighter fluids or liquid fire starters! They're unnecessary and they increase the risk of fire. Light and maintain Using a long wooden match or a lighter, reach around and light the newspaper on the side of the fire towards the back. Your goal here is to set fire to the whole perimeter of newspaper, simultaneously--so have a friend help you if you like. Have them start on the other side, and move around the perimeter of the fire, moving to the front, finding exposed edges of newspaper to set on fire.   Start up the draft: Once the newspaper has caught fire, it's time to crank up the draft. This flow of air is created by the warm air that rises up the chimney, and by air from the room that's drawn into the fireplace to replace the air that just went up the chimney. If you have a fireplace with glass doors (or a wood-burning stove) then shut one door, and close the other partially. Look and listen to what follows. (If the fireplace doesn't have doors, then you have to fan the flames gently with a bellows, your lungs, or a cowboy hat that you happen to have on hand. Whatever implement you choose, you'll get best results if you direct the air at the very base of the fire. This will increase the oxygen supply to the fire, causing it to burn more intensely. More hot air rises into the chimney, and the draft starts to flow. ) Hearing is believing. You should hear the sound of air being sucked up the chimney, and you should see the effect of the draft on the fire: it'll fan the flames and spread the fire to the kindling and the logs. If you completely shut the second door at this early stage, it may have a smothering effect on the fire. Let the fire burn this way until it gets established.   Feed the fire: Watch the fire for when it really starts burning: it'll reduce the kindling to a bright pile of coals, and will burn deep into the large chunks. You can now put a screen on an open, doorless fireplace, or open the doors of a wood-burning stove and put on a screen. It's also ready for another large split log, or an unsplit log up to five inches (10cm) in diameter. This should be good for 30-40 minutes for a smaller piece of softer wood like maple or elm, or up to two hours for a fat chunk of hickory, oak, or cherry wood. If you have some problems getting the logs to catch fire, take a careful look at what's happening. Are the logs hissing and sputtering? If they're well seasoned but damp on the outside, they won't easily ignite. You can remedy this situation by placing other damp logs just outside the fireplace or stove for them to dry out. But if you do this, DON'T leave the room unattended for a long period of time. They could dry out and heat up enough to catch fire. (An unlikely event, but who wants to deal with a burning home?) If the logs are burning a little but smoking a lot, they may be green and not fully seasoned. This situation isn't so easily remedied, although it's worth trying the dry-out tactic. Whether the logs are wet or green, your best bet is to throw another big handful of kindling on the fire, under the logs if you have the tools to manage that. Then get the draft going. The fire may not be hot enough to set up a draft using fireplace or wood stove doors, so you'll need to get down and blow with a bellows or your lungs. If you're making the fire purely for heating purposes, then close both doors of the fireplace or stove and leave the vents open (they're probably open already). Closing both doors produces a fire with maximum heat production. Put out the fires: When it's time to leave or go to bed, put your fire to bed also. Don't close the damper, even if the flames seem mostly extinguished--you'll be inviting huge clouds of smoke into the room. For fireplaces with doors, close both doors and clear away any combustibles from the edge of the fireplace. Wood-burning stoves, do the same. For an open fireplace, wait until the fire has died down considerably, and carefully set the screen in place. Move any combustibles (e.g. matches or drying logs) away from the hearth. That's firestarting in a nutshell--not as easy as simply lighting a match, but not exactly rocket surgery either. As long as you choose the materials carefully, and follow common safety precautions, a roaring fire is a superlative cure for many modern ills.Now get out the marshmallows! -end- Learn More!