BUILDING A BETTER FIRE

What would a firewood story be without an explanation of how to build a proper fire?

According to Jerry Kenton, owner of West Coast Tree Service in Ojai, people often think that they know how when they don’t.

Kenton said that every year he receives calls from disgruntled buyers who claim that their firewood has not been seasoned long enough, “but the problem is they’re not lighting the fire correctly,” he said.

“I’ve actually had to go out to somebody’s house because they claimed the wood was still wet,” he said. “I had to prove it wasn’t by going out and showing them how to properly light the fire.”

If your fireplace isn’t equipped with gas, follow Kenton’s lighting suggestion:

“You don’t just throw in some paper with the wood and expect it to light,” he said. Put scrap wood chips on top of loosely rolled-up sheets of paper, he said. Light the paper; and once the kindling is burning, put on the logs.