The Evolution of Fire Fast: Our Collaboration with Naked and Afraid.

How It All Started

For years, my wife and I have been manufacturing and selling fire starters. Recently we received an endorsement from David Story, Executive Producer of Naked & Afraid. Here is how this all started. For a number of years a few of the survivalists who brave the Naked and Afraid challenge have taken the Fire Fast Trekker as their fire starter. But it didn’t really come to the attention of the producers until Naked and Afraid Season 17, Episode 5: "Runaway Bride", when Sunny Mia went to Colombia with the Trekker, which she purchased from Amazon. It’s important to note that we didn’t know her and that her approval of the Fire Fast Trekker came from how well it performed and not from a prior personal connection to us or commercial advertising endorsement. Sunny, who completed the challenge, later told me that during the three weeks in Colombia it rained every day, and she had no trouble lighting a fire.

Why Fire Matters in Survival

The problem: can’t start a fire. On a survival show or surviving a disaster, what is the most important resource? Water! If you can’t drink you can’t survive for more than a few days. But to drink water from a pond, lake or river you need to boil it to remove disease-causing bacteria. If you can’t light a fire, you can’t boil water. If you can’t boil it, you can’t drink it. And you’re done. So, starting a fire is the primary skill needed to survive. Of course, there are other skills and things you need to survive in addition to being able to start a fire. But without this skill, other skills and tools are unnecessary, because you won’t make it.

The Naked and Afraid Connection

Why would Naked and Afraid choose the Fire Fast Trekker? Because it’s easy to use. And in David Story’s (N&A Executive Producer) own words, “Finishing a Naked and Afraid challenge is never easy, but the Trekker gives our survivalists a fighting chance.”

Some of the contestants on Naked and Afraid are not trained survivalists. Naked and Afraid is a CHALLENGE! We all hope we could outlast an emergency situation – and mostly hope an emergency or disaster never happens. We take our cozy lives for granted. Naked and Afraid ups the ante: without clothing your ability to survive is put to an even greater test! Bug bites, heat, cold, bare feet, sunburn etc.

The brave people who go on the show come face to face with survival on a basic level – and all of us, even if only in the back of our minds, wonder if WE could make it - and hope we never have to find out! We marvel at the N&A survivalists, can’t imagine their situation, commiserate with their failures: but most importantly we cheer on their success! Survival is our basic instinct and if just one unlikely person can make it through a Naked and Afraid challenge, maybe we can also.

Fire Fast and our Trekker Fire Starter are proud to contribute to the success.

Peter & Vera.

Owners at Fire-Fast.