The three most common forms of fire equipment are:

• Staffs
• Poi (fire chains)
• Clubs

You can buy ready-made equipment, or you can make your own. See the feedback form at the boottom for getting in contact with someone who can help

Staffs

Staffs come in double-ended (typically used for twirling) and single-ended (typically used for breathing). Staffs tend to come in lengths from 1 metre to 2 metres (around 3 to 6 feet). You normally only want staffs that long if you are very tall. :-) Normally, you would have only one wick at each end, but if your staff is long enough you may have two or more at each end, which looks very cool indeed. Good staffs will have some form of grip in the middle. This primarily serves as an aid to grip, particularly while working the staff through your fingers or catching, but can also serve as a visual cue to help with catching.

You can perform with one or two staffs. If you have only one, then you'll want to do lots of passing and throwing to make your performance interesting. If you use two, then you'll do lots of intricate manoevers and synchronised spinning to make your performance interesting. You can still do some throwing when you have two staffs, such as throwing one in the air, passing the other from one hand to the other, then catching the first in the other hand.

If you are perfoming with a partner, then you can throw back and forth. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you could effectively juggle three staffs between you, as if one of you were a left hand, and the other were a right hand.

A suitable alternative for practising might be a broom handle or something similar. I'd recommend some sort of grip tape or other tape in the middle of the broom handle, as the hard wood can be hard on your fingers.

Poi (fire chains)

Poi are chains with a wick at one end, and some sort of grip or loop at the other. The loop might be a loop of fablic formed as a handle on a leash, so that you can put a couple of fingers or your hand through it, or it might be a simple keyring-style metal ring, enough to put a finger or two through. Usually you'll perform with one in your left hand, and one in your right.

Poi aren't particularly well-suited to throwing and catching, but allow a great deal of versatility in their ability to follow your body motion, as long as you're reasonably-well coordinated. :-)

Appropriate alternatives for practising include a tennis balls on the end of shoelaces, or other sturdy string. This has the benefit of not hurting so much whenever you whack yourself. :-)

Clubs

Fire clubs are much the same as ordinary juggling clubs, except that they have a wick on the end that you don't hold.

Fire clubs can be juggled, like normal clubs, or swung around in similar fashion to poi. If you're creative enough, you can mix both in a performance.

Clubs may make an easy alternative to poi for some poeple, as you can practise manoevers slower with clubs than with poi. This is because poi will fall out of orbit if not kept whirling around fast enough, whereas the wick on a club will always be some specific distance from your hand.

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