[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] Fire

I have to relate this story to the pyrophobics on this list, in the hopes that
some of you will take it to heart.  Let me qualify this first by saying that I
believe there are many places we all hike where fire is not appropriate. This
does not mean you should not be skilled in building a fire, however many of
you will continue to pooh, pooh this. I hope you do not get caught the way
these folks did.

This story comes from my old roommate, a volunteer fireman who works with the
search and rescue out of Errol, NH. This  Incident took place in the White
Mountains, probably 5 years ago now.  The story went something like this:

Three hikers from Massachusetts were out for a weekend in late September. The
weather was overcast, cool but not overly cold. All were experienced hikers
and felt that they were prepared for whatever happened. The weather turned on
them early the first day when it started raining. The rain was cold,
penetrating, and fairly constant over the course of the day. It rained well
into the evening as temperatures fell, and by the time they set up camp, they
were all fairly wet and certainly cold. The situation deteriorated during the
night. Their tent leaked, they and their gear got wet, and temperatures fell
below freezing. In the morning, the trail and their gear had frozen over with
ice (not unlike our recent ice storm) and our campers were headed for deep
trouble. 

They had not brought an axe. They had not brought a saw. They had no way to
get to the dry wood inside of standing dead trees. They had never been trained
in where to find dry wood in any conditions. They tried unsuccessfully to
start a fire, wasting nearly half of their fuel. They had tried burning money,
credit cards, food packaging, and of course none of it would make heat strong
enough to light wet wood. They did not know enough about building a fire to
know how to find dry wood. They had their stove and fuel for two hot meals and
two packs of waterproof matches when they started, now they had only the fuel
in the stove, and a few remaining matches.

The trio were freezing cold and near hypothermic as they warmed water on the
stove for hot drinks. One of the campers knocked the stove over, resulting in
second degree burns on the woman (the group consisted of two guys and a girl),
and of course wasting precious fuel and warm liquid that they all needed
inside of them at this point.

They broke camp and attempted to hike out - cold and wet as they were. They
were not successful in making their way out of the valley they were camped in
by mid day, battling the ice covered trail, freezing rain, and personal pain.
By this time, all three were suffering from the cold and were unable to keep
themselves warm. They were not late yet, so no one was looking for them. The
group managed a makeshift shelter in their mostly wet gear by mid day - yet
they were still unable to make a fire. Everything was wet. They ended up
wrapped in their rain fly, sharing the one nearly dry sleeping bag, huddled
together for warmth beneath an overturned tree stump, just off the trail.  
This is where the search and rescue team found them the next morning. They
were all hypothermic, all had to be carried out and were hospitalized. The
woman with the burns suffered frostbite on her burned skin as well.

These people were lucky. The search and rescue team was called by family
members and dispatched quickly when the hikers did not return Sunday night.
The hikers had kept to their plan and were on the trail they had planned to
hike. If they had been forced to endure another day of this, they may well
have died. Their inability to light a fire in wet cold conditions put their
lives in extreme danger. If you think this is an easy task for untrained,
unpracticed people, think again.  These were self-proclaimed experienced
hikers. They nearly died, and only for the efforts of the rescue team did they
not succumb to the ravages of New Hampshire's fall weather.

They thought this type of thing could never happen to them. If you think
similarly, I hope no one elase is counting on you when you are proved wrong.

Learn to build a fire. In any conditions. Then know when it's appropriate to
do so, and when it isn't. It may save your life, as well as the lives of your companions.

Paddler (GA>ME 99)
* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List | For info http://www.hack.net/lists *

==============================================================================