This Camping Hack Lets You Start A Fire In Almost Any Weather With Just 4 Ingredients (But Is It Safe?)

Our ancestors survived for approximately 250,000 years using spears, bows, foraging, and fire, until the domestication of plants transformed us into homebound agriculturalists around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. And while the ancients had limited ways of making fire, we've got pounding on steel till it turns hot, stirring potassium permanganate and glycerine together, the tried-and-true hand spindle method (spinning a stick on wood), and perhaps easiest for campers and hikers: aluminum foil and battery meets cotton and petroleum jelly. Whether it's safe or not is a whole other story, but we'll get to that later.

Strictly speaking, this clever four-part method of producing fire really only requires a battery and aluminum foil to ignite the fire. You get a simple AA battery and strip the paper off the tip. Take a thin strip of foil (even something like a gum wrapper will do) and press the opposite ends of the foil against the battery's tip to make a circuit. The battery's electrons start to flow and boom: instant fire. This is basically a kid's science experiment. Aluminum foil is a superb electrical conductor, but in its flat and thin, high surface area-to-volume form, it can't handle the flow of electrons and ignites. Congratulations, caveman. 

And where do the cotton and petroleum jelly come into play? They're like a fuel-meets-containment combo. Your brief foil-battery flame won't burn for long without the third element of the fire triangle to go along with heat and oxygen: fuel. You'll need the usual tinder like grass, brush, or bark, plus the cotton to help you ignite the tinder. Petroleum jelly doesn't burn, but cotton does, meaning the cotton will burn and the petroleum jelly will prolong the combustion. Now, you've got an honest-to-goodness four-piece fire starter kit that's portable, containable, and good for any weather. Huzzah. Warmth, light, and cooked food await.

Folks are always looking for ways to hack the camping experience, which means that the four-piece aluminum and battery plus cotton and petroleum jelly method is in good company. That said, while this fire-starting method is ingenious, it carries a significant safety risk, so caution is advised.

For one, it relies on creating a live electrical circuit, which can easily burn fingers or hands if touched too soon or accidentally. For another, there is the potential risk of triggering an ignition that's hard to control, increasing the likelihood of starting an unintended fire in your surroundings. Plus, if you store foil and a battery together in your camping kit, their contact could potentially start a fire in your gear.

If you move forward with doing this hack anyway, it's imperative that you understand basic fire safety and emergency preparedness so you know what to do if things go haywire. Remember, you're dealing with flame here. When you're out on an adventure, it's always best to opt for traditional, safer fire-starting methods (matches and lighters, anyone?) and reserve this technique as a last-resort emergency tool.