A fire iron is any metal instrument for tending to a fire.

Types of fire irons

There are three types of tools commonly used to tend a small fire

Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....

, such as an indoor fireplace fire, or yule log

Yule log

A Yule log is a large and extremely hard log which is burned in the hearth as a part of traditional Yule or Christmas celebrations in several European cultures...

: the spade

Spade

A spade is a tool designed primarily for the purpose of digging or removing earth. Early spades were made of riven wood. After the art of metalworking was discovered, spades were made with sharper tips of metal. Before the advent of metal spades manual labor was less efficient at moving earth,...

, the tongs

Tongs

Tongs are used for gripping and lifting tools, of which there are many forms adapted to their specific use. Some are merely large pincers or nippers, but the greatest number fall into three classes:...

 and the poker itself. These tools make it possible to handle a fire without risk of burns

Burn (injury)

A burn is a type of injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation or friction. Most burns affect only the skin . Rarely, deeper tissues, such as muscle, bone, and blood vessels can also be injured...

 or blister

Blister

A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing , burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma...

s.

A fireplace poker, (also known as a stoker) is a short, rigid rod, preferably of fireproof material, used to adjust coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 and wood fuel

Wood fuel

Wood fuel is wood used as fuel. The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity. Wood fuel may be available as...

 burning in a fireplace

Fireplace

A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...

, and can be used to stir up a fire. A fireplace poker is usually metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

lic and has a point at one end for pushing burning materials (or a hook for pulling/raking, or a combination) and a handle at the opposite end, sometimes with an insulated

Thermal insulation

Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...

 grip. Iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 is the most popular metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

 from which the pokers are wrought. Brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

 is a more expensive alternative for a home poker set.

A slice bar has a flatter tip and can be used to stir up the fire or to clear the grates of ashes.
Other fires irons include the fire rake (not to be confused with the firefighter's tool

Fire rake

A fire rake is a wildland fire fighting tool. A fire rake has a wooden or fiberglass handle with a rake head consisting of four very sharp, serrated, triangular steel blades. It is used to rake a fire break with the sharp teeth enabling it to reach fire in undergrowth in addition to loose surface...

), fire tongs, and fire shovel.

Many fireplace sets also include a small broom.

Outdoor use

Large bonfire

Bonfire

A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...

s are not amenable to the use of tool

Tool

A tool is a device that can be used to produce an item or achieve a task, but that is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such...

s of the size commonly used in an indoor fireplace. However some individuals have been known to weld

Weld

Weld most commonly refers to a joint formed by welding.Weld may also refer to:-People:* Weld family, an extended family of New England** Theodore Dwight Weld** Tuesday Weld* Weld-Blundell family* Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester...

 rebar

Rebar

A rebar , also known as reinforcing steel, reinforcement steel, rerod, or a deformed bar, is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression...

 into clever shapes with which to move the wood in a moderately large bonfire.

History

There is evidence that humans have used pokers since the paleolithic

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...

 period. Theoretically, pokers were invented immediately after the discovery of fire. The earliest and most primitive pokers were likely made from the same material as the fuel (that is, wood in the form of a hefty branch). This ersatz

Ersatz

Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement...

wooden-type fire-tool may be called a poker or a "firestick" in colloquial terminology

Terminology

Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...

. The first successful mass production of stokers as a part of an entire fireplace-regalia set was designed and manufactured in Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 by the RL Hendrickson Manufacturing Corporation in 1898 at a cost of US$1. Today, one of the sets in fair condition can garner more than US$3500 at auction

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

.