Rising energy prices is driving up demand for cord wood and creating a shortage in some areas of northern New England.
Firewood sellers say they can’t keep up.
Dealers and timber industry experts attribute the firewood shortage partly to competition.
Woodcutters also say the demand is coming at what normally is a slower time of year for production and sales.
Sarah Smith, a forest industry specialist with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, says peak buying is normally in March and April – this year, the panic started in June.
Smith predicted that the unseasonable run would eventually settle down over the summer, but with fuel oil remaining above $4 a gallon, local vendors aren’t expecting orders to ebb.