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You don't have to be an Eagle Scout to make a good fire in your fireplace. You just have to use a tried and
trusted method.
Let us assume (Ahem!) that you've had your chimney inspected and cleaned so that there's no build-up of flammable creosote to worry about. You've taken
the old ashes to your compost pile, or you have cleaned them out the easy way with a Cricket Ash Vac.
Then, look up your chimney to make sure the damper is open. A 'throat damper' is located at the bottom of the chimney and will open with a lever or with
chain-pulls. If you have a 'top damper,' it's located at the top of the chimney and you open it by pulling a cable.
You've cleared the hearth of anything flammable. Now crumple 2-3 sheets of paper and put them in your fireplace grate. The fireplace grate enables your fire to pull in the air it needs to keep a good  draft going up the chimney. Put a good
handful of kindling strips, ˝ inch by 10 inch pieces of pine wood on top of the paper. Better yet, use some fatwood for the
kindling. Fatwood is a natural, chemical-free part of pine trees, cut into easy to use sticks, that creates a one-match, enduring flame for fire starting. [To learn more about fatwood,
check out our article about Fatwood: Nature's One-Match Fire Starter.] On top of the kindling, criss-cross 8 or 10 dry pieces of hardwood, say 1 inch
square by 1 foot long.
Crumple two sheets of paper and light them, holding them up inside the fireplace to warm the flue and establish an upward flow of air.
Light the paper in your fireplace grate from each end. When the paper lights the kindling, and the kindling lights the hardwood, it's time to add 2 or 3 pieces of
split firewood. Place the firewood toward the rear of the fireplace so it will reflect heat into the room as it burns. As the fire gets established, you can add more firewood. Place your fireplace screen or spark arrestor in front of your fire to protect your family and home from stray sparks.
With practice, you will use just enough firewood so that the fire burns down to glowing embers by bedtime, when you are through with it for the day. That's
the time to make sure a fireplace screen is standing guard over your fireplace!
A few tips
- Use just enough softwood for kindling to get the fire going. Burning pine for firewood quickly builds up creosote in your chimney, setting up
conditions for a chimney fire. Fatwood and commercial fire starters can take the place of kindling.
- For firewood, use dry hardwood (oak, maple, cherry, hickory) split into pieces about 4 inches on each side. The ideal firewood has dried for
about one year. (See our article on choosing firewood.)
- Don't burn plastics or paper with color printing, such as the Sunday comics or magazine pages or gift wrap, because they may give off toxins. Never,
never use flammable liquids in your fireplace.
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