It's OK to Admit You Don't Know How to Start a Fire in a Fire Pit. This Guide Walks You Through It.

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With a lifetime of heating with a wood stove, burning trees and limbs blown down in storms, and some years now of testing fire pits for Popular Mechanics, I’ve learned a thing or two about starting fires. Number one: preparation is everything. Number two: virtually any liquid fuel can be unpredictable—seriously, don’t use them to start an open fire, and especially don’t use them in a fire pit. We’ve got a sure-fire way—pun intended—to get a fire started quickly and safely, with a single match. But, before we get started, there’s a few things it’ll help to know.

Fire-Starting Terminology

Traditionally, there are three types of fuel for starting and maintaining a campfire—these apply perfectly to fire pits. All three must be sufficiently dry in order to effectively start a fire.

→ Tinder: No, not the dating app. Tinder is any small, fine and easily lit material, like dry leaves and twigs. But, wood shavings, wood chips from a chainsaw, dryer lint, or even shredded newspaper can be considered tinder. Tinder is easy to light, and burns quickly, but not necessarily for long.

→ Kindling: Small sticks or finely split wood, about the width of a pencil, are considered kindling. Kindling easily burns when exposed to enough flames, and has more mass than tinder. Its purpose is to burn long enough to ignite larger pieces of firewood.

→ Firewood: Larger logs, whole or split, that burn significantly longer than kindling. It is helpful to have a variety of sizes, from two to three inches wide, up to six inches—or larger if you have a big enough fire pit.

Fire-Starting Techniques

There are two primary techniques to build a campfire. The first is the Teepee, as the name implies, is shaped like the iconic Native American tent. One issue with fires built this way, is that as fuel is added, the Teepee can become unstable and is easily knocked over. Additionally, in a fire pit, it may be difficult to add wood to the Teepee.

The second technique, the Log Cabin, is more stable and easier to add logs to as the fire burns. This is better suited to starting a fire in a fire pit. As the name implies, the logs are arranged in a square and each layer of wood is oriented 90 degrees from the previous layer. This is the technique we’ll be using.

How to Prepare

Be sure to get your tinder, kindling, and firewood ready ahead of time. If you own a fire pit you should stock a supply of each, for several fires, ready to go. This way you only spend time on prep a couple times a season, rather than every time you want to have a fire.

For tinder, collect a pile of newspapers—these aren’t as abundant as they used to be, but often those sale flyers you get in the mail are printed on the same type of paper. Don’t throw them out—save them. You could also purchase commercially available fire starters or make your own from cotton balls soaked with petroleum jelly, or melted wax poured over wood shavings in an egg carton.

Prepare or collect some kindling. Use a small axe or hatchet to split small pieces of firewood, or 2x4 cut-off scraps. You can also pick up a bunch of dry sticks and break then into six to eight inch pieces. Store them in a dry place.

Regarding firewood, prep should begin several months out—if you’re cutting your own firewood. Wood should be seasoned at least six months, but preferably nine to twelve months. That means it should be cut and stacked to dry until the moisture content is below twenty percent—ten to fifteen percent is even better. Wood above twenty percent can still burn, but it's harder to get the fire started, it might not burn as hot, and it's likely to smoke more. If you purchase firewood, confirm that it has been seasoned and is ready to burn.

How to Start a Fire in a Fire Pit

1. Lay the foundation by putting two pieces of firewood in the bottom of the fire pit, parallel to each other and five to eight inches apart.

2. Place your tinder in the middle, between the firewood. If using newspaper, keep it folded in half and rip strips from it, starting from the fold. Shake the strips a little before dropping them between the logs. This creates plenty of ragged edges that will easily light, as well as gaps in the tinder where air can move through to fuel the fire. Crumpling paper is a popular technique, but fire doesn’t spread as quickly, and it takes longer to get going.

3. Add kindling. Start with the tiniest pieces, placed directly on top of the tinder. Then add larger pieces, across the logs and perpendicular to them. Depending on the size of the fire pit, and the logs, use eight to ten pieces of kindling.

4. Add a layer of firewood over the kindling, oriented in the same direction. Use three to four pieces about three inches wide, with even spaces between them.

5. Add one more piece of firewood, across the middle of the previous pieces. This will help hold the flames, and heat in, giving a little more time for the kindling and layer below to ignite.

6. Light the fire. Reach in the fire pit to light the match and touch it to the newspaper. The fire will spread quickly—if all the materials are dry, one match should be all it takes.

7. Add more firewood. Once the fire is burning, add more wood as needed to fill the fire pit, or to build the fire to the desired size.

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