Three Things Needed For Fire

When I teach the Firem'n Chit to Scouts one of the things I teach them is there are three things needed to have a fire. If even one of the things is missing it is impossible for a fire to exist. Do you know what the three things are? When I ask the Scouts I get answers that include water, dirt, large cleared out area, an adult, wood, shovel, matches, a fire pit, etc. Well these are all good answers, and a few are mostly correct.

The three things needed to have a fire are:

Oxygen
Fuel
Ignition source

Then I ask them what each means. Oxygen they all get. Fuel, they of course guess things like wood, sticks, paper, pine needles, etc. They forget things like fabric, gas, tires, cow dung, etc. When it comes to ignition sources they do even worse. They of course get things like matches and a lighter but it often takes some digging to get them to think of broken glass, magnifying glass, friction, flint and steel, magnesium, and electric.

So anyway thats my ramblings for now, hope you liked. Please feel free to add your comments below.