This post was last updated on July 1st, 2021 at 08:35 am

Make A Fire Using Only D Batteries and a Wire

You will need 2 D batteries and Some wire or steel wool. The steel wool works the best. If you happen to have “brillo” pads or something to clean your camp dishes you are in luck! Those work quite well. In my demonstration to the right I actually used the wires from a cell phone cord. This is something you are more likely to have with you anyway in a survival situation. I went out into the woods planning to make a video of how to start a fire with a broken flashlight bulb but I accidentally broke the bulb too much. So I pulled the batteries from the flashlight and cut up my cell phone cord. I was determined to start a fire by unconventional means.

The cell phone cord had a bunch of different wires inside that would have worked. You could remove the coating from all of the wires in the cord and used them all for even easier fire starting.

The 2 D batteries I used were very dead to begin with, and they still worked. To light the fire, you just take one end of the wires and attach it to the bottom of the batteries. You will just have to hold it there (I Used my knee in the video) and just put a piece of bark between my knee and the wire/batteries (this gets hot against skin otherwise).  Take the other end of the wire and touch it lightly to the tip of the batteries. While doing so you need to make sure that the wires are touching the item you are trying to light on fire. Paper will work. You can also use dried grass, leaves, birch bark, Lint from the dryer, or whatever you have that will light easily.

Be prepared for when the fire does light. You need to have kindling, and everything ready. You will not have a lot of time to take the small coal or flame and transform it into a campfire.