I love our wood burning fireplace. It gives off a great ambiance to the home. Recently I tried to figure out– How do you build a good fire in a fireplace?
With winter in full force for the first time in years, we have been using our fireplace to heat up our home more often. Here is what I was taught to do when building a fire:
- Crumple some newspaper and place under the grate and on the grate.
- Place wood kindling lengthwise with the grate. Put on two pieces of wood on top.
- Put two more pieces of wood perpendicular to the first two.
- Ensure the damper is open.
- Twist a long piece of newspaper and light it. Hold it carefully into the flue in order to create a draft.
- Light the paper under the grate.
- Enjoy the fire.


- Start with two or three large pieces of wood and lay them lengthwise and tight together.
- Lay three more pieces perpendicular on top of the first layer. Again making sure it is tight.
- Now add the kindling on top along with crumpled newspapers.
- Ensure the damper is open.
- Twist a long piece of newspaper and light it. Hold it carefully into the flue in order to create a draft.
- Light the paper and kindling that was stacked on the top.
- Enjoy the fire as it burns from the top down making more of a hot ember base.
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