Keeping and carrying embers

An ember is like a very slow fire. It needs a little but constant supply of oxygen, and it needs fuel that keeps smouldering slowly instead of flaring up. If it gets too much air, the material burns quickly and is soon used up. If it gets no air at all, it suffocates.

So an ember container has to sit exactly in between: a vessel that does not burn, with a few small openings for a little air. Inside, the ember is bedded in dry, dense or charred material that slowly smoulders on. That way it can survive for a while – but only for a limited time, and you have to check it again and again along the way.

Archaeological and ethnographic accounts show that many cultures carried fire as embers over distances – for example in horns, shells or vessels with smouldering material. For people who had to make fire laboriously with flint or friction, this was a big advantage.

With the glacier mummy from the Ötztal Alps, known as ‘Ötzi’, a birch-bark container with remains of charcoal was also found, which according to a widely held interpretation may have been used to carry embers. Traditionally, certain tree fungi or plant parts were also used to carry embers. This atlas, however, deliberately does not describe how to identify fungi or plants.

Carried embers are an open fire in a container. The container gets hot, and sparks or bits of ember can fall out. They can ignite clothing, luggage and dry vegetation – often unnoticed, while you are already walking on. So never in a backpack, never against your body, never in a tent or vehicle, and never during a fire ban or in dry vegetation.

Embers produce carbon monoxide, an invisible, odourless gas that can be fatal. So an ember container does not belong in a tent, snow shelter or enclosed room either, not even for warmth.

If you want to move a fire from one permitted fire site to another only a few steps away, use a shovel or a fireproof vessel and carry it straight there. For everything else: light a new fire. Always check the local rules.

The modern answer to the old problem is simple: carry at least two different ignition sources, stored in different places – for example a lighter in your jacket pocket and matches in a waterproof bag in your pack. A ferro rod is a robust third option.

Add some dry tinder that still works after rain. If you are prepared like this, you do not need to carry embers. The knowledge about ember carriers is still valuable: it shows how important fire has always been for people and how well our ancestors understood nature.