Siberian Big Log Fire

Yesterday, I wrote about the Dakota Hole Fire. This fire is small, concealable, and very efficient for cooking or boiling a pot of water. What the Dakota Hole Fire doesn’t do well however is keep you warm on a cold winter night. To use a fire for warmth, you need a large fire that reflects heat into your shelter.

The Siberian Big Log Fire is an excellent choice for staying warm. To build a Siberian Big Log Fire you need a base log. At a 90-degree angle to your base log, lay other logs across the base and extending over it. Build your fire in front of the base log, on a platform, and under the over-hanging logs. The over-hang logs burn, and at the same time serve as a reflector, directing the heat of the fire into your camp. As the over-hang logs burn away, you simple feed them forward from the back of your fire.

Survival Russia has an excellent demonstration of the Siberian Big Log Fire on his YouTube channel.

In a winter camp, a small fire simply won’t keep you warm throughout the night. The Siberian Big Log Fire will however produce plenty of heat, reflect that heat into your shelter and allow you to stay warm during a cold night in the forest.