Is a flare a good fire starting tool?
We have a couple of questions showing that in dry times a flare can start forest fires.
- Is there a safer way to use a flare in a wooded area?
- What is the risk of starting a forest or wildland fire with a flare gun?
Most flares will start easily when wet and even burn underwater. So would seem a tempting fire starting tool.
I am wondering about in wet times, if a flare would be effective for starting fires. Flares burn pretty hot 1,600 °C (2,900 °F) and I suspect that might actually make it more difficult to light a fire with wet wood/kindling.
We have some related questions, but they don't address flares.
- Is it possible to use a flint and steel with wet tinder?
- Given limited space and weight what should I carry to get a fire going with damp wood?
- How to light a fire with wet firewood?
Edit
When I wrote this question I was thinking about road flares, that are mostly fuel and no launch system or propellant. It was not until some new activity that the possibility of using an airborne signal flare that I even considered the possibility. It seems like each of the answers have existing have specific types of flares in mind. Answers should probably includes specifics about the type of flare they discuss.
3 answers
I teach survival. I live in Malaysia and our jungle is the Equatorial Rain Forest, which is usually damp. Hand road flares is something I would put in my pack in case I need to make fire or signal immediately. It really helps to make a fire after or during rain. It also helps to ward off wild animals.
The road flare that comes from Japanese Imported Cars usually lasts about 15 minutes. All you have to do is split the wood into smaller pieces, placing skinned kindlings between them and just place the road flare there.
The heat generatef helps to dry the damp wood (wood underneath the bark are usually dry or damp) and catches fire after about 3 to 5 minutes.
I have never failed to get a fire starting and I only do this on an emergency. Road flares are expensive here.
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Flares appear to weigh up to around 200g each, and to be fairly bulky. As each one can only be used once, that's a lot to carry per fire - a similar amount of liquid fuel and tinder could be expected to light several fires.
If you're carrying them as survival signal flares anyway, using one to get a fire going in difficult circumstances might be very effective, but then you don't have it for signalling. This would seem rather limiting, so you might want to do this only if you're going to stay in one place and keep the fire burning.
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A flare is designed around producing light or smoke for a long period (often 30 seconds or more), rather than heat.
If a flare is all you have, then it may serve as a fire-making tool, but I wouldn't carry them with that purpose in mind - better to use that weight allocation for waterproof matches and good tinder.
I'd advise against trying to use parachute flares for this purpose - you're likely to lose control of it as it tries to launch into the air, and that may well spoil your day.
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