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Fire icon
"Use the Campfire option in the Radial Menu. You'll need all the fixings: a Firestarter, Tinder, and Fuel. Accelerant speeds up the process. Fuel types impact burn time and heat production. An active fire can be used to Cook and Boil Water, as well as keeping you from freezing to death."
— In-game description

A Fire is a pile of burning fuel that has been lit using the Fire Starting Survival Skill. To make a fire, players need a starter, tinder (optional with Fire Starting skill 3), and fuel. Though optional, an Accelerant or Lantern Fuel can also be used in an emergency to bypass the slow waiting time when first igniting fires in order to get a fire up and running quickly. Fires provide and restore Warmth to the player. Uncooked foods can be cooked directly on cooking slots near fires or on the ground nearby (in the case of canned foods), and snow can be melted and boiled into potable water.

Fire Starting[]

Main article: Fire Starting

To start a fire, players have to "use" an existing firebox or campfire and press the "Start Fire" hotkey. Players can also build a campfire using Radial Menu > Campcraft > Fire. The fire-starting interface presents four slots: an ignition source (starter), tinder, fuel, and accelerant (optional). At the top of the screen, the player's current fire starting skill, duration of fire, and the chance of success with the currently selected materials are displayed. Coal cannot be used to start a fire.

Types of Fuel[]

Fuel Burn Time (no skill bonus) Fire Start Chance Bonus Temperature Increase Weight Burn Time Per Weight Temperature Increase Per Weight
Book 18 mins +35% 2.0 °C
(3.6 °F)
0.5 kg
(1.1 lb)
0.6 hr/kg (0.27 hr/lb) 4 °C/kg
(3.27 °F/lb)
Cedar Firewood 60 mins +15% 6.0 °C
(10.8 °F)
0.5 kg
(1.1 lb)
2 hr/kg (0.91 hr/lb) 12 °C/kg
(9.8 °F/lb)
Coal 60 mins N/A 20.0 °C
(36 °F)
0.3 kg
(0.66 lb)
3.33 hr/kg (1.51 hr/lb) 66.67 °C/kg
(54.43 °F/lb)
Fir Firewood 90 mins 0% 9.0 °C
(16.2 °F)
1.0 kg
(2.2 lb)
1.5 hr/kg (0.68 hr/lb) 9 °C/kg
(7.35 °F/lb)
Firelog 120 mins +7% 12.0 °C
(21.6 °F)
2.0 kg
(4.4 lb)
1 hr/kg (0.45 hr/lb) 10.5 °C/kg
(8.57 °F/lb)
Reclaimed Wood 30 mins -5% 3.0 °C
(5.4 °F)
0.25 kg
(0.55 lb)
2 hr/kg (0.91 hr/lb) 12 °C/kg
(9.8 °F/lb)
Stick 7.5 mins +15% 1.0 °C
(1.8 °F)
0.15 kg
(0.33 lb)
0.83 hr/kg (0.38 hr/lb) 6.67 °C/kg
(5.44 °F/lb)

Burn times are increased with higher levels of the Fire Starting skill, shown below (times rounded to nearest half-minute).

Fuel / Firestarting Level Level 1 Level 2-3

(+10%)

Level 4

(+25%)

Level 5

(+50%)

Book 18 mins 20 mins 22.5 mins 27 mins
Cedar Firewood 60 mins 66 mins 1 hr 15 mins 1 hr 30 mins
Coal 60 mins 66 mins 1 hr 15 mins 1 hr 30 mins
Fir Firewood 1 hr 30 mins 1 hr 39 mins 1 hr 52.5 mins 2 hr 15 mins
Firelog 2 hr 2 hr 12 mins 2 hr 30 mins 3 hr
Reclaimed Wood 30 mins 33 mins 37.5 mins 45 mins
Stick 7.5 mins 8 mins 9 mins 11 mins

Types of Fires[]

Campfires[]

The Long Dark - Campfire
Main article: Campfire

A campfire is an open fire that can be placed into the world at the player's discretion. Players are limited in where fires can be placed, and campfires are subject to becoming windblown, depending on the weather. If the player has sufficient resources to start another fire, burnt out campfires can be relit.

Contained fires[]

Fire barrel

Contained fires offer the benefits of relatively safe firestarting positions in unlikely places, such as indoors. Contained fires cannot become windblown and are unaffected by the weather.

Firebox Cooking slots Location(s)
Campfire 2 Placed by the player, St. Christopher's Church, inside some caves
Ammunition Work Bench 0 Last Resort Cannery, Blackrock Prison
Pot Belly Stove 1 Fishing huts, Camp Office, Lonely Lighthouse, Anglers Den
Furnace + Forge 1 The Riken, Old Spence Family Homestead, Maintenance Yard, Hangar Basement
Fire barrel 2 Carter Hydro Dam, Quonset Garage, Signal Hill, Hibernia Processing, Maintenance Yard, outside the Pleasant Valley Farmstead
Wood Stove 2 Camp Office, Trapper's Homestead, inside some ruined houses
Fireplace 2 Mountaineer's Hut, Hunting Lodge, inside some larger houses.
Rim Grill 2 Bleak Inlet (inside a Cabin).
Stove 6 Pleasant Valley Farmstead, Community Hall, Hunting Lodge, Milton House, Paradise Meadows Farm, Fallen Lighthouse

Tending fires[]

Fire duration[]

Campfires have a maximum duration of 12 hours. You cannot add fuel to a fire if it would exceed 12 hours of burn time.

Fire duration is calculated from the moment the fire was first lit, so a fire started without accelerant will have already used 5 minutes of life before it can be interacted with. Example: A fire lit from a book (+18 min) will only have 13 minutes of life remaining when starting is complete.

Wind can seriously dampen campfire duration, reducing it to only 9 minutes, regardless of how much duration it had left See campfires (above).

Embers[]

When a fire's duration reaches zero, it does not immediately go out. Rather, it lingers on in a state called embers. How long the embers last will not be visible. Typically embers burn out within 5 minutes, but they may last up to 10 minutes. Embers remain as hot as the original fire. They can be even be used to complete cooking or processing water.

Fire temperature[]

In Pilgrim and Voyageur difficulties, being next to any fire prevents the character from losing Condition due to freezing. Stalkers must get the fire hot enough to get Feels Like greater than 0°C to stop freezing.

The Furnace has a unique temperature cap of 200°C that only pertains to coal.

Adding coal[]

Coal icon

Coal cannot be used to start a fire. It can only be burnt in an already active fire. Coal is an important component for forging as it is the only fuel that can raise the fire temperature above 80°C (only at a forge). When coal is added to the furnace, it is not restricted by the 12-hour fuel cap and can be added repeatedly. The temperature will rise for each coal added, up to the furnace temperature cap of 200°C, though the time cap stands, and any burn duration in excess of 12 hours is lost.

Taking torches[]

Torch icon

A Torch can be taken out of any fire, regardless of what material was used to create it, by activating the button on the bottom right, which reduces the fire by 10 minutes duration and 1°C and exits the fire page with the torch in hand. The "Take Torch" button only appears when a fire has at least 10 minutes of duration remaining. Torches taken from fire will have 25-50% condition and can be extinguished right away for later use.

Outdoor fire bonus[]

Fires that are started in outdoor locations offer an outdoor fire bonus. This means that the Duration listed on the fire is inaccurate, and the fire will actually last up to 100% longer depending on the temperature. Colder temperatures will yield a longer-lasting fire, up until the bonus caps at -30°C, starting at -10°C. The bonus is determined based on air temperature (before factoring in the fire) at the survivor's position, meaning that if you go inside your outdoor fire will no longer receive the outdoor fire bonus. Even fires in pseudo-indoor areas like Mountaineer's Hut receive the burn duration bonus.

In regards to fire bonus, outdoor caves have a line separating the warm and cold sections. Standing at the back of the cave, a fire will receive a reduced bonus, down to 0% if the air temperature in the back of the cave reaches positive values. Utilizing this bonus, you can use significantly less wood to keep an overnight fire burning in a cave by standing in the cold section of the cave when interacting with your bedroll.  Note that you will be subjected to the colder outdoor cave temperatures during your sleep, so consider your fire temperature accordingly.

Processing water[]

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The water processing old menu

Water is obtained from fires through melting and boiling snow. This can be done by first placing a Recycled Can, Cooking Skillet, or Cooking Pot on the heat source. There is no need to collect snow prior to boiling.

  • Melting snow for 19 minutes in a Recycled Can (15 for a Cooking Pot or Cooking Skillet) produces 0.5L Water (unsafe)
  • Boiling 0.5L Water (unsafe) for 19 minutes in a Recycled Can (15 for a Cooking Pot or Cooking Skillet) produces 0.5L Water (potable)

Higher levels of Cooking Skill reduce both melting and boiling times.

Predators[]

Wolves will halt upon reaching a campfire, holding their ground. Should the player go closer to the Wolf it will attack the player instead, it's advised to go a bit farther away or closer to the fire to prevent the Wolf from attacking. Aiming a weapon at the Wolf (Be a weapon or a rock) will cause it to flee for a short time. Successfully throwing a Torch at the Wolf will cause it to flee for an extended period. Contained fires with no visual contact with the predator (be bear or wolves will not act as a deterrent because the wolf will be to close for comfort and once the wolf starts charging you will have 2 options. Run away from the fire and return back if you are light enough or take the risk and aim UNLESS the predator is a bear.

Auroras will make all predators completely aggressive, thus torches, fires, and flares WILL NOT STOP OR DETER any predator from charging at you.

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