Video: DIY “Inferno” Survival Matches

Winter is a little more than a month away. For many of us, that means cold and wet weather. When you’re outdoors in these circumstances, a fire becomes especially important, but also especially difficult to start. Between snow on the ground, scarcity of naturally-available tinder materials, reduced fine motor skills, and other winter factors, it may be a challenge to get a healthy flame going. Even if you already carry a few tried-and-true fire-starters in your kit, it’s always worth considering more creative options for the times when plans A, B, and C don’t work out. A recent video from Far North Bushcraft and Survival shows one such method, which is referred to as inferno survival matches.

These matches combine powerful ignition sources with long-burning fuel in a compact, tightly-rolled form. Better yet, you probably already have most (or all) of these items around the house or in the garage. If you don’t they can be purchased online for a few dollars, or picked up at local hardware stores and camping, fishing, or hunting gear shops.

As Lonnie demonstrates below, each of these inferno survival matches consists of two stormproof matches, two strike-anywhere matches, a cotton ball, a paper towel, a few coats of melted-down candle wax, a discarded bicycle innertube (a.k.a. ranger band), and some rubber bands.

Lonnie says this design burns for around 8 minutes without the rubber innertube, but can be extended by as much as 50% with its addition. You may want to consider the way you’ll be using the fire-starter, and decide accordingly. If your fire will be used for cooking or built in a fairly-enclosed space, that burning rubber may be unpleasant. Either way, that long-lasting flame should be more than enough to ignite damp wood in a snowy environment. Lonnie lives in Alaska and often films episodes during the winter, so he’s frequently used it in these conditions.