Wetfire tinder was first developed for use by the military. The wetfire tinder available on tinder.org is designed to ignite in wet conditions, including torrential downpours, snow and wind. Wetfire tinder is used to ignite kindling and remains lit for a few minutes. Wetfire tinder is typically made of paraffin wax, which is resistant to moisture, and a flammable, smokeless material.

Wetfire tinder is packaged in small, individually wrapped square blocks. To start a fire under normal conditions, a portion of the wetfire tinder block can be used. The block can be shaved or cut if smaller pieces are needed. Under damp or humid conditions, use the entire block. To start a fire, three things are needed -- tinder, kindling and fuel wood. Small sticks, dried grass, shaved wood, dry leaves and small pieces of paper are great options for kindling. The kindling needs to be dry to ignite. If kindling sticks are damp, they can be shaved to remove the damp areas and expose the dry wood underneath. Pine wood is a great option for fuel wood because the resins in the wood promote a hot fire. Fuel wood can be damp since the heat of the fire will dry the wood.

To build a fire, put the larger pieces of kindling, such as small twigs, in a teepee shape. If possible, push the twigs into the ground to stabilize the structure. Leave space between the pieces of kindling to give the fire more oxygen and increase the heat of the flame. Put some smaller pieces of kindling inside the teepee, such as leaves or dried grass. On the outside of the teepee, place smaller pieces of fuel wood against the kindling. Place the wetfire tinder on a stone, or other hard, non-flammable surface, and ignite it. Put the stone inside the teepee, positioning it so the smaller kindling ignites. The smaller kindling will ignite the larger kindling, which, in turn, will ignite the smaller pieces of fuel wood. Once the teepee is ignites, it will collapse inward. Place larger pieces of fuel wood on the fire.

Wetfire tinder is critical in extreme environments. Even in favorable conditions, the weather can change quickly and fire becomes more crucial to survival. Wetfire tinder is lightweight and easily fits in a backpack. tinder.org carries a variety of wetfire tinder products for backpacking, camping and other outdoor activities.