# Glossary of firelighting

This is an alphabetized glossary of terms pertaining to lighting fires, along with their definitions. Firelighting (also called firestarting, fire making, or fire craft) is the process of starting a fire artificially. Fire was an essential tool in early human cultural development. The ignition of any fire, whether natural or artificial, requires completing the fire triangle, usually by initiating the combustion of a suitably flammable material.
* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z
* See also
* References

## A
### amadou

    Main article: amadou A spongy, flammable substance prepared from bracket fungi.

### arson

    Main article: arson The crime of intentionally or maliciously lighting structures, wildland areas, cars or other property on fire. It is the deliberate setting of fires for personal, monetary or political gain.

### auto reignition

    Main article: Auto reignition A process used in gas burners to control ignition devices based on whether a burner flame is lit.

### autoignition temperature

    Main article: Autoignition temperature The lowest temperature at which a substance will spontaneously ignite in a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark.

## B
### batoning

    Main article: Batoning The technique of cutting or splitting wood by using a baton-sized stick or mallet to repeatedly strike the spine of a sturdy knife, chisel or blade in order to drive it through wood. The batoning method can be used to make kindling or desired forms such as boards, slats or notches. The practice is most useful for obtaining dry wood from the inside of logs for the purpose of fire making.

### bellows

    Main article: Bellows A device constructed to generate a strong blast of air, often as a means of supplying a fire with oxygen.

### black match

    Main article: Black match In pyrotechnics, a type of crude fuse constructed of cotton string fibers intimately coated with a dried black powder slurry.

### Blow George

    Main article: Blow George An implement used in firelighting to increase the efficiency of firelighting through acceleration of the chimney draw.

### bonfire

    Main article: Bonfire

### bow drill

    Main article: Bow drill An ancient tool usually used to make fire. It was also used for primitive woodworking and dentistry.

### bridgewire

    Main article: Bridgewire A relatively thin resistance wire used to set off a pyrotechnic composition serving as a pyrotechnic initiator.

### Bryant and May

    Main article: Bryant and May A United Kingdom (UK) company created in the mid-19th century specifically to make matches.

### burning glass

    Main article: Burning glass Also called a burning lens. A large convex lens that can concentrate the Sun's rays onto a small area, heating up the area and resulting in ignition of the exposed surface.

### bushfire

    Main article: Bushfire See wildfire.

## C
### campfire

    Main article: Campfire A fire lit at a campsite to serve as a source of light and warmth, a beacon, an insect or apex predator deterrent, for cooking, and/or for a psychological sense of security.

### char cloth

    Main article: Char cloth A swatch of fabric made from vegetable fiber (such as linen, cotton or jute) that has been converted via pyrolysis into a slow-burning fuel of very low ignition temperature.

### combustion

    Main article: Combustion The sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat and conversion of chemical species. The release of heat can also result in the production of light in the form of either glowing or a flame.

### control of fire by early humans

    Main article: Control of fire by early humans A turning point in the cultural aspect of human evolution that allowed humans to cook food and obtain warmth and protection. The ability to make fire also allowed the expansion of human activity into the colder hours of the night, and provided protection from predators and insects.

## D
### Dickheads

    Main article: Dickheads (brand) A brand of matches released by Australian businessman Dick Smith in 1999. The name is a pun on the Redheads brand of matches, and on a gentle Australian term of abuse.

### Döbereiner's lamp

    Main article: Döbereiner's lamp A lighter invented in 1823 by German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner. It is based on the Fürstenberger lighter, and was in production until circa 1880. Zinc metal reacts with sulfuric acid in its jar to produce hydrogen gas. When a valve is opened, a jet of hydrogen is released and bursts into flame. The ignition is catalyzed by platinum metal.

## E
### electric match

    Main article: Electric match A device that uses an externally applied electric current to ignite a combustible compound.

### ember

    Main article: Ember A hot, glowing coal made of greatly heated wood, coal, or other carbon-based material that remains after, or sometimes precedes, a fire.

### England's Glory

    Main article: England's Glory A brand of matches, available in the United Kingdom, using an iconic image of a Victorian battleship, HMS Devastation.

## F
### feather stick

    Main article: Feather stick A length of wood which has been shaved to produce a head of thin curls. It is sometimes used when starting an outdoor fire or campfire when dry tinder is difficult to find. It is often used in conjunction with char cloth.

### ferrocerium

    Main article: Ferrocerium A man-made metallic material that gives off a large number of hot sparks at temperatures of 3,000 °F (1,650 °C) when scraped against a rough surface (pyrophoricity), such as ridged steel.

### fire

    Main article: Fire

### fire piston

    Main article: Fire piston A device used to kindle fire. It uses the principle of the heating of a gas (in this case air) by its rapid (adiabatic) compression to ignite a piece of tinder, which is then used to set light to kindling.

### fire ring

    Main article: Fire ring A construction or device used to contain an otherwise unenclosed fire, such as a campfire, and prevent it from igniting objects beyond the ring and turning into a wildfire.

### fire striker

    Main article: Fire striker Also called a firesteel. A piece of high-carbon steel used for striking a spark, usually kept in a tinderbox together with flint and tinder.

### Fire Triangle

    Main article: Fire Triangle A simple model that illustrates the three necessary ingredients needed to ignite most fires: heat, fuel, and an oxidizing agent (usually oxygen). A fire naturally occurs when all of these elements are present and combined in the right mixture, meaning that fire is actually an event rather than a thing. Most fires that can be started with these elements can also be prevented or extinguished by removing any one of the elements of the Fire Triangle.

### firelighter

    Main article: Firelighter Also called a firestarter. A small solid fuel tablet sold as a consumer product and designed to replace kindling for the purpose of quickly and easily starting a fire.

### firelighting

    Main article: Firelighting Also called firestarting, fire making, or fire craft. The process of igniting a fire by artificial means.

### fireplace

    Main article: Fireplace

### firesteel

    Main article: Firesteel See fire striker.

### firewood

    Main article: Firewood Any wooden material that is gathered and used as fuel for a fire.

### fireworks

    Main article: Fireworks

### flammability

    Main article: Flammability

### flint

    Main article: Flint A hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in color, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture.

### flint spark lighter

    Main article: Flint spark lighter A type of lighter used in many applications to safely light a gaseous fuel to start a flame. It is most commonly used to ignite bunsen burners and oxyacetylene welding torches.

### Fomes fomentarius

    Main article: Fomes fomentarius A species of fungal plant pathogen found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America that is commonly used as tinder in firestarting.

### fuel

    Main article: Fuel Any material that stores energy which can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air. Other processes used to convert fuel into energy include various other exothermic chemical reactions and nuclear reactions, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.

### fuse

    Main article: Fuse (explosives) The part of the device that initiates function

## G
### gas lighter

    Main article: Gas lighter A firestarting mechanism used to ignite gas stoves which do not have automatic ignition systems. It relies on a physical phenomenon called the piezoelectric effect to generate an electric spark, which ignites the combustible gas from the stove burner.

### go-to-bed matchbox

    Main article: Go-to-bed matchbox A variety of match storage box that was popular in the mid-to-late 19th century. Relatively small, about 6 cm high, they were frequently made of metal of some kind, though sometimes of wood or ivory.

### Guy Fawkes Night

    Main article: Guy Fawkes Night An annual commemoration observed primarily in England on 5 November. Its history began with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords.

## L
### Lag BaOmer

    Main article: Lag BaOmer A Jewish holiday celebrated on the thirty-third day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. A well-known custom of Lag BaOmer is the lighting of bonfires throughout Israel and worldwide wherever religious Jews can be found.

### lighter

    Main article: Lighter Any portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.

### Lucifer

    Main article: Lucifer (match) Early matches that had a number of problems: an initial violent reaction, an unsteady flame, and unpleasant odor and fumes. Lucifers could ignite explosively, sometimes throwing sparks a considerable distance.

## M
### match

    Main article: Match A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface.

### matchbook

    Main article: Matchbook A small paperboard folder (matchcover) enclosing a quantity of matches and having a coarse striking surface on the exterior.

### matchbox

    Main article: Matchbox A box made of cardboard or thin wood designed to hold matches.

## P
### piezo ignition

    Main article: Piezo ignition A type of ignition that is used in portable camping stoves, gas grills, some lighters, and potato guns.

### potassium permanganate

    Main article: Potassium permanganate Sometimes included in survival kits as a fire starter, water sterilizer and for creating distress signals on snow.

### punk

    Main article: Punk (fireworks) A smoldering stick used for lighting firework fuses.

### pyrite

    Main article: pyrite A common sulfide mineral which had brief popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries as a source of ignition in early firearms, most notably the wheellock, where the cock held a lump of pyrite against a circular file to strike the sparks needed to fire the gun.

### pyrokinesis

    Main article: Pyrokinesis The name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter.

### pyromania

    Main article: Pyromania An impulse control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, in order to relieve tension or for instant gratification.

### pyrotechnics

    Main article: Pyrotechnics

## R
### Redheads

    Main article: Redheads (matches) An iconic Australian brand of matches originally manufactured in Richmond, Victoria by Bryant and May but now manufactured in Sweden by Swedish Match. It is the top-selling brand in the country.

### Ronson

    Main article: Ronson (company) A producer of lighters and lighter accessories once known for its stylish and dependable cigarette lighter line, and the advertising slogan, "You're a winner - with a Ronson!" The Ronson brand is now owned by Zippo Manufacturing Company.

## S
### slow match

    Main article: Slow match The very slow burning cord or twine fuse used by early gunpowder musketeers, artillerymen, and soldiers to ignite matchlock muskets, cannons, and petards.

### smoulder

    Main article: Smoulder The slow, low-temperature, flameless form of combustion, sustained by the heat evolved when oxygen directly attacks the surface of a condensed-phase fuel.

### sodium permanganate

    Main article: Sodium permanganate Chemically similar to potassium permanganate, but generally less desirable because it is more expensive to produce.

### Solar Spark Lighter

    Main article: Solar Spark Lighter A pocket-sized stainless steel parabolic mirror, shaped to concentrate sunlight on a small prong holding combustible material at the focal point.

### Swan Vesta

    Main article: Swan Vesta A brand name for the most popular brand of 'strike-anywhere' matches currently available in the United Kingdom.

## T
### tinder

    Main article: Tinder Any easily combustible material used to ignite fires by rudimentary methods. A small fire consisting of tinder is then used to ignite kindling.

### tinderbox

    Main article: Tinderbox A small container containing flint, firesteel, and tinder (typically char cloth but sometimes a small quantity of dry, finely-divided fibrous matter such as straw), used together to help kindle a fire. Tinderboxes fell out of general usage when matches were invented.

## V
### vesta case

    Main article: Vesta case A small portable box made in a great variety of forms with snapshut covers to contain vestas (short matches) and keep them dry.

## W
### wildfire

    Main article: Wildfire Also called a wildland fire, forest fire, or bushfire.

### wilful fire raising

    Main article: Wilful fire raising A Common Law offence under Scots Law applicable to the destruction of property or possessions by fire. See also arson.

### wood ash

    Main article: Wood ash The residue powder left after the combustion of wood. The main producers of wood ash are wood industries and power plants.

### wood fuel

    Main article: Wood fuel Any wood that is used as fuel for a fire. The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass.

## Z
### Zip cube

    Main article: Zip cube A small, packaged block of solid fuel containing kerosene and sold as a firelighter.

### Zippo

    Main article: Zippo A refillable metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the eight decades since their introduction, including military ones for specific regiments.