Firewood shortage

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across an article entitled “Americans Panic-Buy Firewood And Stoves Amid Energy Crisis“: “The global energy crisis has led to a spike in natural gas, heating oil, propane, and power prices, making the cost of heating a home this fall/winter very expensive. As a result, Americans are panic buying cords of wood and stoves to deflect soaring fossil fuel prices. … ‘Everyone is extremely concerned about how they are going to pay for the cost of home heating,’ said Brian Pieck, the owner of House of Warmth Stove and Fireplace Shop in New Milford, a town in rural western Connecticut. He said that concern had led people to panic buying woodstoves, adding his sales for woodstoves over $2,800 are up 50%. ‘Our manufacturer is working feverishly around the clock.’”

Curious, I reached out to my contact at Lehman’s, Glenda Ervin, and asked if this if this is what she saw reflected in the store. She replied, “Yes, wood heating and cooking stoves are in great demand. One of our wood-cooking stoves has a year-long waiting list, but they are still being pre-ordered!”

I did a little more internet research and saw confirmation of this trend:

• Firewood demand soars amid rising fuel costs:  “Americans’ demand for firewood is on the rise thanks to surging fuel prices and firewood suppliers are struggling to keep up. … Phil Clement, who has operated Phil’s Firewood for nearly 30 years in Jefferson County, New York, [said] keeping up with the high demand has been a ‘struggle.’ ‘It’s been a lot busier than we’ve had in the past. It’s just never-ending,’ Clement said. ‘It seems like as soon as you’re getting caught up, the phone rings again and you get more orders.’ Clement said high fuel prices are unquestionably to blame for the demand for firewood. ‘Everybody’s worried about (firewood) prices because firewood follows the price of oil,’ Clement said. ‘It takes diesel fuel to produce the firewood because logging and everything like that runs on diesel fuel.’”

• Feeling the burn: Firewood sales, prices are blazing: “Amid the inflation surge that’s rippled through the U.S. economy and touched thousands upon thousands of products, one of the more obscure items on the list is firewood. It’s a fuel from earlier times, so niche an industry that no one appears to even try to track pricing on a national level. Talk to firewood vendors in state after state, though, and they’ll all tell you the same thing: Sales are booming on the eve of winter, and prices are soaring.”

Have others noticed this? Is anyone transitionng to wood heat this winter in response to energy prices?