Starting Your Fire

Building a fire in your fireplace or woodstove requires the use of tinder, kindling and firewood. Always remember, before actually lighting the fire check to be sure the damper is fully open.

The key to building a fire is to think small. Starting your fire requires the use of tinder and kindling. The tinder should easily ignite with a match and begin burning. It will then ignite the kindling followed in turn by the larger logs.

Newspaper makes good tinder. Good kindling would be small dry sticks and branches, the dryer the better. Kindling should not be more than an inch in diameter.

We will describe below two different methods for starting a nice fire in your fireplace or woodstove.

Conventional fire building - To lay the fire, arrange two small to medium size pieces of wood on the grate, about six inches apart. Place some crumpled up newspaper (tinder) between them and then cover the tinder with several pieces of kindling. Don't scrimp on the kindling as this is the most important part of starting the fire. Now put one or two more pieces of firewood atop the other logs. If you use two pieces, lay them at right angles to the first two. Be sure to leave enough space between them to allow good air circulation around the logs. Now light the tinder and within a few minutes you will have a nice, hot, roaring fire.

Top down burn - Arrange three large, dry logs in your firebox and place them up to six inches apart depending on firebox size. Place them in the fireplace the long way front to back, not across, to provide good airflow for complete combustion. Place three more pieces of dry wood that are slightly smaller across the tops of the larger pieces, log cabin style. Continue building this structure with increasingly smaller pieces of dry wood. The structure can rise until it is about two-thirds of the way to the top of your firebox. Aim for as many different sized levels as possible. Important: The top half of the log pile should be made up of small, branch and twig sized pieces of dry wood. Top the pile with kindling or wood shavings. When the dry kindling and shavings ignite, the fire will work its way down to the larger pieces, provided the wood is dry.

Regardless of the method you choose, follow these three steps before lighting your fire:

1.

Insure that the fireplace damper is open.
2.

Twist up a sheet of newspaper and light it, holding it as high up in the fireplace as is reasonable. This will allow heat to rise up the chimney quickly and establish a good draft. Be careful not to burn yourself!
3.

Once the smoke is being drawn up the chimney, slowly move the burning paper down and use it to ignite the kindling.

As the logs burn, add more firewood as needed. Be careful not to add too much wood. In a fireplace keep the top of the flames visible below the fireplace opening. In a woodstove, keep the flames confined to the woodstove itself. Flames roaring up into the chimney could start a chimney fire.

Commercial fire starters are also available and work well. They eliminate the need for tinder and reduce the amount of kindling required. These products are sold in small packets or blocks and ignite easily. Never use liquid fire starters, such as charcoal lighter fluid or other flammable liquids indoors as this is extremely dangerous.

At the end of the evening the fire should not be allowed to "smolder" out because this creates creosote buildup in the chimney. When you are through enjoying the fire, separate the logs by moving them to the side of the fireplace or standing them on end in the back of the fireplace. Close the screen or glass doors tightly. This will reduce the amount of air flowing up the chimney while the damper is open. Do not close the damper until you are sure the fire and coals are completely out.