Firewood business on P.E.I. hot because of cold weather

With this winter’s cold temperatures, P.E.I.'s firewood business is hot, and as customers burn through their supply some producers are struggling to keep up with demand.

"Everybody seems to be running out of wood and we ran out ourselves two weeks ago," said Gary MacKinnon who owns MacKinnon’s Firewood in Southampton.

Louis Callaghan said he has already burned through an extra cord of wood.

"Yes if you keep it burning steady you go through more because it's colder and windier. Everybody seems to be burning a little more this year," he said.

MacKinnon has been in the business more than 30 years and said usually he'd still have dry wood to sell customers this time of year.

"There's just no dry wood around, eh? And I feel sorry for them. I wish I had a 100-cord home here in the yard but I don't," he said.

Other Island firewood producers say the same thing. Some, like MacKinnon, are completely sold out, while others only have freshly cut green wood left.

Burning green wood, as opposed to 'seasoned' dry wood, is not ideal. Due to its higher moisture content, green wood tends to produce less heat and more creosote.

Wallace Rose, of Royalty Hardwoods, said they're completely sold out of firewood too.

"I think the problem is that people didn't expect the winter that we got so they didn't buy enough wood or don’t stack enough cords," said Rose.

"We sold all of our inventory and we've had a lot of requests for more and unfortunately we just don't have enough."

Rose and MacKinnon said they've been referring customers to other producers with green wood left to sell.

"Well it's better than nothing but it's alright with a wood furnace if you had some dry wood to mix with it," said MacKinnon.

He said for people running low, burning green wood is really the only option.