How to Build a Signal Fire

In a survival situation, all members of the party should gather fuel for a fire immediately. You need to build signal fires and keep them going as much as possible in order to attract planes flying overhead. Three fires are a recognized distress symbol, but if you can only tend to one fire at a time, it can still signal for help, especially if combined with smoke.

Instructions

    • 1

      Find a clearing to build your signal fires. You won't want to use campfires in the middle of a forest--the trees will block it from view from aircraft.

    • 2

      Build 3 fires, in a triangle position, as an international distress signal. If you can't keep the fires going non-stop because you are running out of fuel or need to sleep, keep the fires prepared. Find a way to cover them so they will stay dry. Keep tinder and wood ready to light at any given moment to get the attention of planes flying over head.

    • 3

      Make log rafts and build fires on them, if you are by a river or lake. Secure the rafts together, in a triangle position, and anchor them to the bank.

    • 4

      Use small isolated trees as your signal fires. Make sure they won't catch other trees or vegetation on fire. Place dry timber and bark and empty birds' nests in the boughs of a living tree and light it up for massive smoke and a tall signal fire. For a dead tree, you can build a fire on the ground around it and let it catch slowly.