Americans are feeling the burn of home-heating costs like never before this holiday season.
But rather than watch their dollars go up in smoke paying for oil or propane, many are stocking up on firewood to stay warm during the winter months.
At AZ Wood Farmer in Apache Junction, Arizona, owner Doug Trapp said there’s definitely been a steady rise in demand for firewood this year, as more people choose to stay at home.
“People are cooking at home. People are staying home more, because the cost of food has gone through the roof,” Trapp said.
“Everybody is worried. Everybody is concerned.”
And with the increased demand for firewood comes higher prices.
A 4-by-16-foot bundle of season mixed local firewood currently sells for $490 at AZ Wood Farmer—$575 for shaggy juniper, and $775 for pecan.
At Firewood by Jerry in New River, Arizona, a full cord of seasoned firewood now goes for $300—up $45 from last year.
Each cord contains 112 cubic feet of firewood, 650 to 725 pieces, said owner Jerome Gosiak.
“ more people stay at home, the more they are burning the stuff,” Gosiak told Pezou.
“re’s no question there’s been a boom,” said Kelly Olsen, spokesman for the National Firewood Association in Minnesota. “ industry has been very busy.”
Olsen said that COVID-19 created further demand for firewood this year as many people looked to heat their homes for less during lockdown.
rising cost of labor and firewood production equipment, combined with higher transportation costs, have also driven up wood prices.
Texas power outage in early 2021 served as a wake-up call for many Americans, who don’t want to be caught off guard this winter. This, in turn, has helped spur the demand for firewood, Olsen said.
“It’s the whole self-sufficiency aspect of it,” Olsen told Pezou.
Olsen said the demand for “bundled” firewood at retail stores is also seeing a sharp rise for meeting short-term heating needs.
“I see the industry ramping up,” he said.
In Pennsylvania, the nonprofit Professional Forestry Industry Association (ProFIA) is helping several families heat their homes with firewood this season.
“A lot more people are looking to burn wood” since it costs less than oil or propane, said ProFIA president Matt Carney.
This season, the organization plans to donate cords of firewood to at least five or six homes, although the demand “ebbs and flows.”
Ohio based “My Free Firewood,” on the other hand, is a collaboration between Keep It Green Tree Service and the JRG Agency.
“We saw the confluence between homeowners needing an inexpensive year-round supply of firewood and the excess wood many tree services and landscape companies have. So, we launched My Free Firewood in 2018 with the intent to solve both of these problems by providing a service that facilitates connecting firewood customers to wood providers,” according to the organization’s website.
National Park Service provides firewood for personal use, both on a free-use permit and a paid-permit basis.
“ cost of a permit varies according to the type of wood to be harvested, and the definition of a ‘cord’ of wood is a well-stacked pile 8 feet long by 4 feet wide by 4 feet high,” according to the NPS.
A maximum of five cords per household per year is allowed under free use and a maximum of 12 cords per household per year is allowed under paid permits.
Pezou : Firewood Sales Surge Ahead of Expected Chilly Winter Weather