The best way to have a "white man's fire" is to build your fire at the base of a good dry snag.
Good info Hampstead but I feel like I ought to say that building a fire against a tree and especially against a snag is dangerous. The fire will eat at the base of the standing tree and undercut it to fall toward you, right across the fire. That nearly killed a good friend of mine one night. It is tempting to build a fire against the base because it is such an effective reflector and fire sustainer. Old timers warned me about that.
