I got this idea from a survival website five or six years ago, and played around with the concept quite a bit. Get some strike anywhere wooden matches, tie about a dozen of them together with dental floss, soak them in melted Gulf Coast parrafin wax (get in the canning section of the grocery) several times until they're really covered with a thick coat, and store them in the little waterproof bottles that prescription medicines come in. Experiment a little bit with just the size that will fit in well.
The beauty of this is that you have something that you can strike on the nearest rock, it burns like the fires of hell for several minutes, and is not only waterproof by itself, but it stays stored in a waterproof container. Being a belt and suspenders type of guy when it comes to stuff like this, I also carry some dryer lint soaked with the same wax. Never had to use it in an actual wilderness emergency, but it gives me a good feeling to know that if I had to start a fire quick, especially in less than ideal conditions with less than ideal kindling (i.e. a little damp), then I've got something that will burn like perdition's flames for at least five minutes, giving me about the best chance of getting an emergency fire going short of carrying around a small flamethrower.
Don't know what it's like in your part of the country, but if you haven't bought strike-anywhere matches in the last twenty years, then I might be able to save you some trouble. You probably won't be able to find them in the usual places. To make a long, long story short, if you have an Amish community within a four hour drive, next time you're in the area, go to the general store and buy several boxes.
I played around with this in my backyard at night quite a few times (Yes, my wife thinks that I'm crazy. She's probably right.), and finally settled on twenty-five or so of these bad boys tied together, half the heads on either end, and it fills up a medium sized prescription bottle. This gives more fodder for the fuel, as well as an extra chance to get it struck and lit in case you wear the heads off of one end (never had this happen to me, by the way).
A couple of these in my backpack, along with the waxed lint in a ziplock bag, has accompanied me on a number of backpacking trips.
