The Dakota Fire Hole

A little known survival aid related to wilderness fire making skills is the Dakota Fire Hole, also known as the Dakota Fire Pit. This handy device is easy to construct and has marked advantages over other types of camp fire constructs.

Making a Dakota Fire Hole is initially more labor intensive than simply building a fire on the surface of the ground. However the outlay in energy required to make a Dakota fire hole is more than offset by its efficient consumption of fuel; it greatly reduces the amount of firewood required to cook meals, treat water to destroy pathogens, or warm your body. The Dakota fire hole is a valuable wilderness survival aid because it burns fuel more efficiently, producing hotter fires with less wood. In many areas firewood is scarce or requires a large amount of time and expenditure of energy in foraging to obtain it. Once you build a fire, efforts are better spent attending to your other wilderness survival needs rather than in the constant gathering of firewood
Dakota FireholeOther advantages of the Dakota fire hole are that it creates a kind of woodstove with a stable platform that is very convenient to cook over. Should you need to conceal your fire, the fire hole will limit the amount of visible smoke that rises from the fire, since the fuel wood is burning hotter and more efficiently. The pit will also help conceal the light emitted from your fire, especially at night when even a single candle flame can be seen from miles away.

Where to Build a Dakota Fire Hole
Before you start to dig your Dakota fire hole you should scout out an area where soil conditions are conducive to its proper construction. You will want to avoid areas

•that are rocky and difficult to dig.
•with thick tree roots that require cutting.
•that are wet or where a dug hole will fill with water.
•With soil conditions such as dry loose sand that will not hold shape as it is dug into.

Making a Dakota Fire Hole

Now that we have the introduction taken care of, we can make a Dakota Fire Hole. I am use an army folding shovel to dig with. Many wilderness survivors carry a small hand trowel for the burying of human wastes and this also works well. A strong stick or part from your mess kit can also be utilized for digging holes in a pinch; survival experts are experts at innovation so use whatever means you have available.

Making the Fire Pit Chamber
Having selected a likely area in which to dig the fire hole, first remove a plug of soil and plant roots in the form of a circle about 10 or 12 inches in diameter. Continue digging straight down to a depth of about one-foot being sure to save the plug and the soil you removed for replacement later on.

This part of the Dakota fire hole will serve as the main chamber that contains the fire. I prefer to extend the base of the fire chamber outward a couple of inches in all directions so that it can accommodate longer pieces of firewood. This saves time and energy in breaking up firewood into suitable lengths, and also has the effect of allowing larger and therefore hotter fires.

Making the Fire Hole Airway
Now comes the key component of the Dakota hole that makes this fire making method so effective; the airway.

Before you start on the airway tunnel, determine the general direction of the wind. That is the side of the fire hole on which to construct the airway. Dig a 6-inch diameter airway tunnel starting about one foot away from the edge of the fire hole. Angle its construction so that the tunnel intersects with the base of the fire chamber. As when you made the fire hole section, be sure to save the plug containing the vegetation and roots as well as the loose soil you remove.

Using the Dakota Fire Hole

Now that the Dakota Fire Hole is properly constructed, you can partially fill the fire pit chamber with dry combustible kindling materials and light the fire. Once the flame is going strong, drop it into the fire pit so that it catches the kindling on fire; gradually add sticks so that a strong hot fire is maintained.

How a Dakota Fire Hole Works
As the fire burns, the hot air that is created goes up through the fire hole “chimney”. This creates a suction action that forcefully draws air down through the tunnel and into the base of the fire. The draft is increased even more by your having constructed the tunnel on the side from which the prevailing wind is coming. Acting as a kind of bellows, the flames are continuously fanned and the fire burns hotter and more efficiently than a fire that is simply made on the surface to the ground. Hotter fires mean less smoke. In addition, the heat of the fire is concentrated into an upward direction where you can better capture it for use. This allows you to do more with less wood – an excellent survival fire by any measure.

Fire Hole Improvements
Once you have made the Dakota fire hole you can easily set up a cooking surface for pots and pans by laying several parallel green sticks across the fire pit. Lacking camp cooking gear you can also find a flat rock that only partially covers the hole – and use it as a sort of hobo frying pan. It is also an easy matter to set a “Y” shaped stick into the ground onto which is rested a green pole with bannock dough, fish, or other outdoor meal.

Campfire Cleanup

When it is time to leave the area, be a responsible wilderness survivor who values the land you need for survival. Fill in the Dakota fire hole with the dirt you removed and saved when you were constructing it. Then replace the cap of vegetation. Doing so serves the double purpose of extinguishing the fire and leaving as little trace of your visit as possible.

In summary, the main advantages of using a Dakota Fire Hole include:

•burns hotter
•with less fuel
•producing less smoke
•less light visible to those you do not want to find you
•providing a stable cooking surface
•easy extinguishing of the fire
•and removal of evidence you have been there when you are preparing to leave.
There can be no doubt, making the Dakota Fire Hole one of the best types of survival fires you can make when surviving in the wilderness.