Monday October 2 4:45 PM ET Firewood Prices Rise As Temps Fall

By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - With the cost of heating oil and natural gas going up, firewood prices are rising, too, as more people look for cheaper ways to keep warm this winter.

``Everyone who has a wood stove is looking at using it now,'' said Joseph Smith, associate director of the Forest and Wood Products Institute at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner.

Already, supplies of seasoned wood - which burns hotter and longer than fresh-cut logs - are running low in some places in New England even before the autumn leaves reach peak color.

``Every one in the business is going flat-out,'' said John Puffer of Shutesbury, who sells more than 1,500 cords of premium kiln-dried firewood annually. ``We're getting a lot of new customers afraid of the oil prices and they are calling earlier than ever before.''

In Massachusetts, a cord of wood that sold for $85 during the mild winter of two years ago is now going for $130, Smith said. In Wisconsin, where dealers said that split hardwood that a year ago was selling for $65 to $75 is now fetching up to $90.

In Maine, many who sell firewood have been without seasoned wood for weeks or months, and some customers are being told they will have to wait until January for freshly cut ``green'' firewood.

``We're seeing something of the same sort of thing that happened in the 1970s when the price of oil shot up,'' Smith said.

Smith attributed the higher firewood prices to increased demand for wood as well as the higher fuel prices loggers are having to pay to run everything from chain saws to delivery trucks.

Not only are more people buying firewood, but more are looking to buy wood-burning stoves.

``In Y2K, there was a big push for freestanding wood stoves. It is kind of the same thing now,'' said Jim Knoeck, owner of Knoeck Inc. in Wausau, Wis.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001002/us/wood_heat_1.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 02, 2000