Alpha Outpost: Dakota Fire Hole

We've talked at length about making and sustaining a fire in these shorts. Having fire is a quintessential part of your survival. The Dakota fire hole is just another tool that you can add to your "toolbox" of skills. The rugged men over at Alpha Outpost, show you how to make this nifty survival fire.

You'll need some sort of digging tool in order to build the Dakota fire hole. If you don't have a shovel, there are ways to shape a piece of wood into a crude digging implement. Now that you've got your digging implement, you'll need to dig two holes in the ground. The holes should be close together with the outer edges about three or four inches apart. The holes will need to be about six to twelve inches deep. Ensure that there is some decent structural integrity between the two holes. We wouldn't want this build to collapse on us.

Once you've got the holes dug, and structurally sound, use a small stick to create a tunnel between the two holes. You want the tunnel to be at the bottom of the holes, not in the middle. Once again ensure that everything is structurally sound so that you don't have the roof over the tunnel collapsing and killing your fire. Add some kindling to one hole and use a match, or other fire starting device to get the fire going. Add wood to the fire as necessary.

The heat will escape from the top of the hole where the fire is lit and due to science and physics, will draw fresh air into the fire from the clear hole. The heat literally sucks in fresh cool air needed to fuel the fire. Due to physics, the longer the fire goes, the hotter and bigger it can get, just be sure to not clog up the "air hole" as the fire grows.