Video:How to Make a Fire at Home

Transcript:How to Make a Fire at Home

Hey guys, Jonathon Stewart here for About.com. When the weather outside is frightful, nothing beats the warmth and ambiance of a wood-burning fire. Some might even say it's delightful. And since we've no place to go, take a look at these home fire-building techniques, and you'll be a-carolling before you know it. Check it out:

Supplies to Make a Fire at Home

You'll need just a few things to get started:

• newspaper
• kindling
• firewood
• matches
• and - of course - a fireplace, complete with a grate

Preparing to Make a Fire at Home

Before you get started, just make sure that your fireplace is real and actually hooked up to a chimney. If it has plastic wood and an on/off switch - its probably best not to set real fire to it - just flick the switch to on, close your eyes, and pretend.

Make a Fire at Home

Be sure to start with a relatively clean hearth and grate, and if it hasn't been cleaned in decades, you might consider hiring a sweep to clean your chimney.

Next, make absolutely sure your flue damper is open. There are many types of dampers, but most have some sort of handle that allows you to move it to either an open or closed position. A good test to see if you've succeeded in opening yours is to light a small piece of news paper, hold it towards the opening, and make sure that the smoke moves up the chimney. And not into your face. This is a very important step - if you forget about it, and your damper is closed, all that smoke you see billowing from neighbors' chimneys will be inside your house. Smokey.

Crumple about 15 sheets of newspaper into orange-sized balls, and align them underneath your grate. Use as many as you need to make a complete layer, and be sure to avoid using color catalogues or anything plastic.

Next, line your grate with kindling. While kindling can be small pieces of dry pine or commercial fire-starting material, corrugated cardboard works just as well. Roll several pieces into cardboard logs, tightly enough that they stay in place, but loose enough to allow oxygen to flow through them lengthwise.

Finally arrange two or three pieces of dry wood in a criss-cross or tee-pee fashion on top of your kindling.

Take your time with all this, and be sure you use wood that's been properly aged. If you get it right the first time, you won't have to add more fuel or blow 'til you're blue in the face in order to get your fire to catch.

Now, take a small piece of rolled newspaper once again, light it, and allow your flue to warm up, establishing and upward flow of air. Finally light your newspaper from the four corners and middle and let it slowly burn. Blowing an easy stream of air into the kindling may help it to ignite, but just be patient. Before you know it, the newspaper will light the kindling, and the kindling will allow the pieces of wood to catch, too. And there you have it.

Don't be afraid to add more wood as your original fuel turns into coals, especially if you're cozied in for the long haul. Never, ever leave a fire unattended, and be sure to keep anything flammable away from your fireplace. And then, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Except in Southern California - fat chance.

Thanks for watching! To learn more, visit us on the web at About.com.