Bounce it back. Firewalls are a wall built for two major reasons. One is to bounce heat back towards yourself or a shelter, and another is to provide a wind break to keep your fire from spreading or going out.
Pine resin is a great resource. If you find it, hang on to it. The sticky stuff can be used to seal wounds, and generally has some anti-bacterial properties, and is also useable as an adhesive. The hard stuff is useful for assisting in lighting fires in wet environments, so long as you can get a flame to it, and if you melt it down and mix it with powdered charcoal, or ash, or dried grass, or a combination of those things, then let it set hard again, you get something akin to hot melt glue.
Easier in dryer climates at low altitude.
Tip: Keep in mind that different altitudes play a major part on fire lighting. The higher up you go, the harder it will be to make a fire with friction(making the bow and drill near impossible to use). Altitude also plays a big toll on how fast your wood will burn. The higher the altitude, the more trips for wood you will need to take; so be sure to gather a big pile beforehand.
Tip: The best way to learn how to light a fire(or really all aspects of survival) is by trying it yourself. There are some things that can not be taught in a book and are best learnt by hand.
This is called the fire triangle. It is a basic example of all the things needed to light a fire. If you take out so much as one of these, the fire will go out. Here is how to understand the triangle:
Oxygen is one of the hardest aspects new firelighters have to grasp. They tend to pile too much fuel(what burns) on right away and do not allow the fire room to breath.
To not smother your fire, work on basic fire structures like the ti-pi when you are starting out.
Heat is what the fire needs to light. This can be from a spark, chemical reactions, and more. An example of how heat affects a fire is if, for example, you move a fire out of a pit; it will have a harder time keeping going away from the heat of the embers and might even go out.
This topic was requested by Nick LaDieu. More on this topic will be posted later.
