Building a campfire is a crucial skill for everyone, and it takes more than just stacking some wood and sticking a lit match near it. However, anyone can build a campfire like a pro with the proper knowledge, materials, and tools. For a small fire, you can use your hands and two matches. For a medium fire, you'll need a knife. For a big fire, you'll need an axe and saw. To build any type of fire, you'll need three types of fuel. Tinder, Kindling, and Fuel Wood. Tinder is an easily combustible material used at the first stage of starting a fire. Its primary purpose is to ignite Kindling. Kindling is small dry wood sticks used to ignite the fuel wood. Fuel wood is the primary fuel that keeps the fire going after it is started. Gather enough dry Tinder, Kindling, and Fuel Wood before you start. Look for a dry wood like a fallen tree or dead lower branches of an evergreen, and collect more wood than you think you need. The right way to cut off side branches is from the bottom of the tree toward the top, cutting on the underside of the branches. Tinder can be made of any flammable substance, as long as it is finely divided and has an open structure. Great natural options are dead and dry twigs, high needles, tree bark fiber, or small shavings. The lengths should be no shorter than the outstretched hand. Collect enough to fill a circle made with two hands. Kindling can be dry cut wood from dead and brown branches, or split thick dead branches into sticks. Every stick should be as thick as a thumb and as long as elbow to finger tips. Collect enough for an arm load. You'll need to chop or saw thick branches from a dead tree for fuel wood, never a life one. Thick as a wrist, and as long as an arm. Collect a stack as knee high. Clear space at least six feet in diameter around the fireplace, free of burnable material such as trees, rush, and low branches. Consider digging a fire pit. Setting a fire on the surface without knowing what is under the fire pit can lead to a root fire, which can show up feet away from the actual fire site. Place the fire fuel with an easy reaching distance of your fireplace. One typical quick campfire is to build the teepee. Bend the tinder in half and build a cone of kinling sticks around it. Take the center from the windward side. Add kinling carefully to keep the fire growing. Use the kinling begins to burn. Start adding fuel. Get your fire burned down to a fine ash and ensure it is completely extinguished.