Big Backlog : Warm Weather, Increased Competition Worry Firewood Vendors

For Ventura County’s firewood dealers, it’s the calm before the storm. And they can’t wait for the storm.

“In this warm weather, the last thing people are thinking about is firewood,” said Scott Hobson, who owns a tree-trimming service in Santa Paula. “If it was cold and rainy, the phone would be off the hook. There is a winter coming, hopefully.”

It will take a very cold winter to use up all the firewood available, Hobson and other dealers said, judging by the number of newspaper advertisements.

“It’s incredible how many there are right now,” said Hobson, who has been in the business about 10 years. “When I first started, there were four or five ads at the most. The other day I counted 19.”

Ronnie Ellison of Ojai said the number of vendors has increased every year since she and her husband, Mel, got into the business as a sideline three years ago.

“Wood is harder for us to get,” said Ellison, who buys wood from ranches around Santa Paula and resells it. “Maybe because more people are selling it.”

The increased competition prompted Chip Curtis, owner of A-1 Firewood in Ventura, to lower the price of his oak firewood to $165 a cord from $180. “I gave in to the pressure,” said Curtis. Other vendors are selling oak for $160 to $240 a cord.

Glen Edwards of Ventura said he plans to market his eucalyptus firewood in Orange and Riverside counties, where trees are less plentiful and he can get as much as $270 a cord.

A cord is 128 cubic feet, usually measured as a 4-by-4-by-8-foot stack.

Oak is the most expensive and, by most accounts, the most highly prized of the woods available in Ventura County, followed by eucalyptus, which goes for $150 to $175 a cord locally. Avocado, which appears to be in great supply this year, sells for as little as $90 a cord but is less desirable, some vendors say.

“Oak is best,” Hobson said. “It lasts longest and burns hot. You can barbecue with it.”

But oak is becoming scarce, vendors say, largely because of the ordinances restricting their removal in some cities. Ventura County is expected to adopt a similar ordinance.

“If the new ordinance passes, oak is going to be very hard to get,” said George Gamboa, a firewood dealer in Ventura. “I predict it will be $250 to $300 a cord next year.”

Eucalyptus is in good supply, in part because many of the windbreaks lining the county’s agricultural areas are being chopped down for development, several vendors said. Its main drawback is a smell that some people don’t like.

“Eucalyptus is a good, hard, solid, oily wood,” Hobson said. “It burns a long time. Then again, a lot of people don’t like it because if it’s a little green, they can’t get it lit.”

Proper seasoning--the time needed for wood to dry out after it is chopped--is a crucial consideration for wood buyers, vendors say. Most woods should be seasoned at least six months but not much more than a year. Wood that is too green won’t light or burn easily; very old wood turns rotten and draws bugs.

“When people get burned on a load of wood--hey, that’s a pun, isn’t it?--it’s not only a financial loss but a loss of space,” Hobson said. “They don’t have room to go out and get another cord.”

A good way to make sure oak and eucalyptus are sufficiently seasoned is to check for bark, Hobson said. It should have already fallen off or should come off easily when a log is dropped. A good ear can distinguish the knocking sound of a well-seasoned log hitting the ground from the thud of a green one, he added.

Some dealers expect the less costly avocado to be more popular this year among buyers worried about the economy. “People run their fireplaces for aesthetics, not for heat,” Curtis said.

Avocado burns hot but doesn’t last long, firewood dealers say.

“I tell people to steer away from avocado,” said Steve Bixby, owner of the Fireside Mart in Ventura, which sells fireplace supplies. “It’s very oily and it creates the worst kind of creosote that’s hard to remove.”

Despite the increased competition, most vendors say they expect a good year once it gets cold.

“I’ll be booked up for three weeks solid,” Hobson said. “People love to wait till the last minute. Then they want it today or they hang up on you.”

But some customers do plan ahead, and it pays off.

“Smart people get it in the summer,” said Jeff Kenton of Kenton’s Tree Service in Oak View. “It’s half price then.”