How to Start a Fire in the Rain (What Actually Works) My son Caiden asked me once, maybe when he was nine, why we practice building fires when I already have a lighter. We were out at the cabin in North Central PA, nothing dramatic going on, just a drizzly Saturday morning where I was teaching him the basics. His question made sense. We have a lighter. We have matches. We’re not lost in the woods fighting for survival. So why bother? My answer was simple: because the lighter gets wet, or t