How to Start a Fire without Matches

Oregon forest fires: Let them burn | Street Roots

Rub two sticks together. Invariably, afterwards, one of the sticks lights up a cigarette while the other wants to spoon. Use the embers from that cigarette to start a fire.

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If you have car keys, use them to drive somewhere there are matches.

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If you have a gun and ammunition, take a bullet apart and put the gunpowder on your kindling. Fire the gun so that the flash lights the gunpowder. Remember: Fire the gun into the ground or at whoever forgot the matches.

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Bang two rocks together until somebody hands you a lighter to get you to stop.

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A magnifying lens can start a fire using the Sun’s rays. Check the ground and trees for magnifying lenses. Don’t see any? Well then… you’re done for, pal…

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If you have two pocket watches from before nineteen-fifty, you can hold the lenses together underwater to make a magnifying glass. Who carries two pocket watches from before nineteen-fifty? Anyone with a handlebar mustache riding one of those bicycles with one giant wheel in front.

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Flint and steel will easily start a fire. You can usually find flint and steel in your backpack next to the pocket watches and matches.

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Put an aluminum-foil hat on the tallest member of your party and then wait for lightning.

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A five-volt battery and some steel wool can create the sparks necessary to start a fire. You don’t have a five-volt battery and some steel wool? Well, what a disappointment you turned out to be…

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Scan the mountaintops for any phoenixes that seem like they are about to self-immolate.

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