Avoid decayed wood since it will not burn well. If it is rainy you can find some dry wood directly on the trees. However you need to make the difference between firewood and green wood that lost its leaves for the winter.

To light the fire keep some matches in a dry place.

Can be used as firelighters (kept in a dry place, e.g a bag) : dried moss, dead leaves, paper, birch’s bark, pine needles, dried and opened pine cones, a candle.  Things to know : The live embers are useful for cooking. Flames do not heat up, they will only blacken your pot.

The different types of wood are :

• Hard woods have a good heating capacity and burn slowly : oak, chestnut, ash tree, beechwood, acacia, walnut, hornbeam. The ash will burn whether it is green or dead.
• Soft woods have an average heating capacity and burn fast : plane tree, maple, poplar, limewood, alder, chestnut tree.
• Conifer woods have a high heating capacity but will burn very fast : fir, spruce, pine, larch.

The best way to proceed is to light your fire with birch and then to refuel it with hornbeam which will burn for a long time and produce a lot of live embers.

 When you leave, do not forget to put out your fire with water and to leave no trace of your stay.