h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You don't know what they died of.
Some fungi and other nasty stuff can be made airborne and breathable by burning.

If you have rocks around, you can make a ring for the fire and a secondary ring as a set of seats and a barrier to help keep sparks from going too far.

And it never hurts to remember what some of the Native Americans used to say about fire:

White man build big fire and stare into it, losing night vision.
Red man build small fire and sit with back to it, looking out into the night.

The Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

I like the quote. There's another one that goes something like:

White man build big fire and sits a long way away.
Red man build a small fire and sits close.

You can often find small dead branches on a living tree. That's what we do.

Didn't know the stuff about fungi - I'm sure you're right.

Burning diseased trees is strongly frowned upon.
I'm not sure how one is supposed to deal with them.
I met an older gentleman a couple of weeks ago who burned some poison oak and got his eyes and respiratory system temporarily damaged.

That's why it never hurts to know your trees.

It is possible to use selected grasses to start a fire, but newspaper and wrappers and pasteboard are voted against by most of the sensible.

Many of the old cultures carried coals from the previous night's fire with them, but I wouldn't dare suggest that today.

Aha,

A link to one of the Baba Yaga stories! A823402 (Vassilisa the Wise)

>You can often find small dead branches on a living tree

Yep - especially fir and spruce almost always has lots of dry kindling to offer, especially if they stand close. Even in rainy weather, it's mostly possible to find dry branches there - though if they do stand close together it can be pretty daunting to go in there and get back out...

That was what I was talking about in the main. On camp this year, we collected dead twigs from birch trees. As it was that time of year, I collected thistle down and started the fire using that, a tinder bundle and a fire steel. Magic stuff.