Those who end up in survival situations, where hiking, out on the ocean or just about anywhere, usually have a series of small issues/mistakes that all combine to cause the larger problem. In looking at any of the individual issues/mistakes they seem small enough. Everyone makes mistakes. Even the most prepared can find oneself in a life and death situation because of seemingly small mistakes. How many of us have hiked in the back country when exhausted? How many of us have pushed on to get to where we planned to stop? How many of us have not checked the weather report the day (or day before) we left, at least once? How many of us have forgotten an important piece of gear? How many of us have read a map wrong? How many of us have taken the wrong turn on a trail? You get the idea. Now, combine a bunch of these errors that each makes the previous mistake worse and it COULD lead to disaster. Obviously, being prepared is the best way to avoid it, but we have all made mistakes, and we have all not prepared enough before. Making a fire is a valuable skill to know, even if you never need to use it.
