To build a fire, feel heat, smell smoke, hear snaps and groans, watch flames dance, and gaze into glowing coals is the ultimate outdoor comfort. A campfire gives warmth, sheds light, dries Trade Trade Clothes, calms fears, and draws a day in the outdoors to a pleasant close. In addition to the comforts of a campfire, a life may often hang in the balance. When a campfire becomes a matter of life or death, there is no room for error. The Complete Book of Fire: Building Campfires for Cooking, Warmth, Light, and Survival provides the knowledge and fosters the confidence to successfully stay alive.

Outdoor expert Buck Tilton's respect and knowledge of our mountains, plains, and coastline are embodied in a lifetime of outdoor achievements, including winning the Paul Petzoldt Award for Excellence in Wilderness Education, co-founding the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS, and authoring Leave No Trace's Master Educator Handbook. Buck also knows about fire first-hand. He's battled wild fires on the ground as a hotshot with the Unites States Forest Service and from the air as part of helicopter fire-attack crews. Buck lived in a cabin for 15 years, heated entirely by a wood-burning stove fed by wood that Buck himself cut, split, and stacked. In his lifetime outdoors, Buck has cooked with every conceivable type of stove, but hot coals and flame remain a favorite way to roast or bake a tasty open-air feast. An experienced author, more than 15 of Buck's books are currently in print, and he is a regular contributor to "Backpacker Magazine." Buck lives in Lander, Wyoming.