If you find yourself in a survival situation where you need to be rescued, knowing how to build a signal fire is going to be crucial in your chances of being rescued. But there also instances in which you need a fire for warmth and cooking, but do not want to be detected. For these cases, you need to know how to build a stealth fire.
The stealth fire goes by a few different names, including Dakota fire and smokeless fire. This type of fire is not truly smokeless. The amount of smoke and visible flame will be greatly reduced by using the stealth fire technique, enough so that it may be difficult to find your camp again if you wander off without marking it.
Advantages to building a stealth fire:
- Minimization of visible evidence while fire is burning
- Less fuel (wood and debris) required to keep a blazing hot fire going
- Much easier to fill in and cover the fire pit than traditional methods — no water required
How to build a stealth fire:
A stealth fire requires digging two holes, 12 inches or so across from each other, and connecting them with a tunnel. The first hole should be about a foot in depth and no wider in diameter. Meanwhile, the second hole will be about half to two thirds as deep. The second hole, coupled with the tunnel built between them, will draw air in from the outside and funnel it directly to the other pit, where it will continuously stoke the coals of your fire.
Directing air to the fire in this way results in a much hotter fire over a consistent period of time, rather than the changing temperatures that occur with a traditional above-ground fire. Some people add a flat stone over part of the fire hole to create a stable cooking surface, while others plunge a Y shaped stick into the ground to support pot handles or roasting sticks.
Check out this comprehensive video (some NSFW language) that shows you step by step how to build a stealth fire, and try your hand at it the next time you need to build a campfire!
Featured Image from Adrian Infernus/Unsplash
