Fire Starters
Fire Starter / Fire Tender
Recommendations from 2005
The most critical / time consuming aspect of this task is getting the fires going in the morning. Often times it is damp and windy as the result of weather this time of year.
In order to ensure I could get the fires going quickly, I brought 'fire-starters'. These can be found at the local Safeway or Longs, and are extremely dense sawdust 'sticks' with sulfur on the end (like a giant match). I used one to two of these in the heart of each charcoal pile. This ensured that there was a long burning starter element at the heart of each fire and proved very useful in the damp and windy conditions.
I also chose to use regular Kingsford charcoal, with separate lighter fluid, rather than match-light charcoal. This allowed me to add more fast-burning lighter fluid to fires that were not starting quickly or evenly enough (but remember to be careful squirting lighter fluid into a lit barbeque . . . stand back a little!). It also meant that once the fires were lit it was easier to add charcoal without causing 'flame-ups'.
ALSO - the amount of charcoal that will be needed can be greatly increased on a windy day. The fires in the large grills at the campsite will burn 30% to 40% faster in windy conditions. This lead to us using two additional 24 Ibs. Bags of charcoal (so that the total was 12 x 24 Ibs. Bags).
This year we also had the same crew doing the fire-starting and the tending, which I felt worked out well, however I would recommend a couple of extra recruits for getting everything up and burning.
Finally - if you want to be extra popular (and the fire starters / tenders are pretty popular since we are creating heat on a cold morning), make sure to keep some fires going well, especially at the crafts tables, so that the other volunteers can huddle around them to stay warm.
All in all - this is a great job because it allows you to move around, be social and have great conversations while experiencing a little piece of every one of the other stations!
Previous Feasts:
Fire 2005
Fire 2000, 2001, 2002
Fire 1999
Fire 1998
Fire 1997