Apèsi – poko piblik

🧭 Eklerè

Pou kounye a tèks liv la an angle.

Anvan Sa ki ladan l Swivan

Chapter 16: Fire, Knife & Axe

Lily: "Tools are for helping, and a grown-up is always near!"

Older Rangers can learn to use real tools and build a real fire, always with a trained grown-up close by. Tools are for making and helping, never for play, never for scaring anyone, and never inside a tent or shelter.

For Sprouts and Trail Seekers (all ages): fire safety only

Pathfinders (11–13): knives and campfires with a grown-up

Knife safety

  1. Ask first. Only use a knife when a grown-up says yes and is nearby.
  2. Safety circle: before you open the blade, hold your arm out straight with the closed knife and turn all the way round. No one, and nothing you don't want to cut, should be inside that circle. Then keep it clear.
  3. Sit down to whittle or cut, with your elbows on your knees, so the blade stays out in front of you, away from your legs.
  4. Cut away from yourself, never toward your hand, legs or body. Keep your other hand behind the blade.
  5. Use small, controlled strokes. If you have to push hard, the knife is too blunt or the cut is too big.
  6. Close and pass: close a folding knife (or sheathe a fixed knife) before you stand, walk or pass it. To pass an open knife, hold the back of the blade, handle toward the other person; let go only when they say "thank you".
  7. Never throw a knife, never run with one, and never carry it open.
  8. Care: keep it clean and dry, wipe it after use, and keep it closed and put away. A sharp knife is safer than a blunt one, because it doesn't slip. A grown-up shows you how to sharpen it.
  9. Cuts: press, rinse, cover, tell (Chapter 13).

Building a fire (a grown-up present the whole time)

  1. Check the rules. Is fire allowed here today? Many places have fire bans, especially in dry, windy weather. If in doubt, no fire. Use a camp stove or skip it.
  2. Pick the site: - an existing fire ring, or bare soil - far from tents, shelters, trees, roots, overhanging branches and dry grass - never inside a tent or shelter - water and a shovel ready before you start
  3. Gather three piles before you strike anything: - tinder: dry grass, bark shavings, cotton - kindling: sticks from pencil to thumb thickness - fuel: wrist-thick dead, fallen wood; never cut living trees
  4. Teepee lay: put a tinder bundle in the middle, then lean kindling around it like a tent, leaving a doorway on the side the wind comes from.
  5. Log-cabin lay: place a tinder bundle with a small teepee of kindling over it, then stack sticks in a square around it, two by two, getting smaller as you go up.
  6. Lighting: - Matches: kneel, strike away from you, shelter the flame with your hand, and light the tinder from the windward side, low down. Drop used matches into the fire. - Ferro rod: hold the rod tip right in the tinder, and pull the rod back while the striker stays still, so sparks land without scattering the tinder.
  7. Grow it slowly: add kindling, then fuel. Keep it small.
  8. Never leave it. Someone stays with the fire the whole time. Long hair tied back, loose sleeves rolled up.
  9. Put it out cold: drown it with water, stir the ashes, then drown again until there's no hiss and no steam. Feel near it with the back of your hand. If it's warm, it isn't out.
  10. Leave no trace: burn wood to ash, scatter cold ash where allowed, and leave the site cleaner than you found it.

Ranger checklist

Earn your badge (Fire & Tools 🔥🪓)

Level Who Requirement (shown to a trained grown-up)
❤️ Heart / 🥉 Bronze Sprouts, Trail Seekers Fire safety only: say and show "stay back" and stop, drop and roll.
🥈 Silver Pathfinders (11–13) Show the knife safety circle, cutting away, closing and passing, and knife care. Check the fire ban, choose a site, build a teepee or log-cabin lay, light it with matches or a ferro rod, and put it out cold.
The grown-up must be trained and present for every demonstration. Badges are never earned alone.

Watch and learn

Anvan Sa ki ladan l Swivan