By Renee Worthing 

Staff Writer

With heating oil prices skyrocketing, many Mainers are looking to alternative heat sources to stay warm this winter, including heating with wood and wood pellets, but Sanford Fire Marshal Peter Cutrer said he is concerned about house and chimney fires when wood stove users fire up new stoves for the first time.

With the high demand for firewood, Maine Forest Service Forester Peter Lammert said some Mainers may not be able to find firewood before cold weather sets in.

“There is a lack of seasoned wood statewide and firewood dealers are reporting three-month wait lists for wood delivery,” Lammert said.

Firewood dealers have not had the time to season the wood properly in response to the high demand for wood, Lammert said, and unscrupulous dealers are selling green wood to unsuspecting buyers. Not only will buyers not get the best bang for their buck with green wood, they risk the build-up of creosote in their chimneys, which could result in fire.

Some firewood dealers are cutting trees right now to sell and some homeowners are cutting their own firewood. 

“Trees growing right now are about 50 percent moisture,” Lammert said.

He said burning a piece of unseasoned wood is akin to trying to burn a partially wrung out sponge.

“It’s not going to happen,” he said.

The first eight minutes green wood burns, it creates nothing but steam, Lammert said. If the wood is very green, brown foam will also be discharged followed by heavy smoke.

“All the moisture must be driven out before it burns,” he said. “By the time you have gotten past the steam and smoke stage, you have lost 50 percent of the heat value just driving the moisture out.”

Because green wood produces less heat, more wood must be burned. In addition, the moisture in green wood can cool the catalytic combustor, a ceramic honeycomb device between the fire and the chimney, to the point that it no longer functions. Smoke will condense on the inside of the chimney walls as creosote, creating a fire hazard.

The shortage of seasoned wood concerns Cutrer, who said people may become desperate and burn unsafe wood.

“People are going to do what they have to do to stay warm,” he said.

Cutrer said furniture, wood decking, chemically treated wood, telephone poles and railroad ties contain toxins and should never be substituted for seasoned firewood.

Since some people will have no choice but to buy green wood, Lammert said it is critical that wood is stacked properly in order to dry.

“The warmer and windier, the faster the drying time,” he said.

Lammert said wood should be stacked off the ground. Ideally, it should be stored indoors, away from rain, snow and other moisture. 

To quickly dry wood, Lammert suggests stacking wood at least 36 inches away from a wood stove and placing a fan on the opposite side to blow the heat to the wood.

Lammert said people should be cautious when buying firewood from a dealer. He said a visual inspection to determine if wood is dry is not always accurate, and suggests looking at the ends of the wood to check for radial cracks – cracks that form from the “heartwood” and radiate toward the bark.

“A knife should easily slide into the cracks,” Lammert said.

  He said a moisture meter, which can be purchased for about $100, is a more accurate way to determine if wood is seasoned enough to burn.

He said not only is green wood being sold to unsuspecting buyers, he said state officials are hearing “terrible stories” about people being short-changed on the size of their wood purchase.

A standard cord of wood is four feet wide by four feet high by eight feet long. Another type of cord is called a “face cord,” in which the stacked wood is only as wide as a non-standard length of wood.

Lammert said anyone who thinks they did not receive a full cord of wood can call the Maine Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures Inspectors. He said the wood should be stacked and none should be burned until inspectors measure it.

“[Inspectors] will go after anyone who short-changes someone,” Lammert said.

  Lammert said kiln dried wood burned in a wood stove provides 15 million BTUs per hour. One BTU is the amount of energy needed to heat 16 ounces of water one degree Fahrenheit. Pellets provide about 8,000 to 9,000 BTUs per hour, he said.

Pellet stoves, which Cutrer said are more complex than old-fashioned wood stoves, need electricity to drive the auger, which feeds pellets into the burner. 

While pellets in the burn pot may continue to burn or smolder, once extinguished, the stove will not produce heat.

Cutrer said it is imperative that a certified professional inspect newly installed heating appliances. He said the most dangerous thing he has seen people do is use an old or abandoned chimney for new wood and pellet stoves.

At the Roosevelt Training Center in Sanford on Aug. 6, Cutrer conducted a seminar for 31 fire officials, including representatives from the state fire marshal’s office. He said it was a record attendance.

“If there was not so much concern for public safety, there would not have been so many people there,” he said.

On Aug. 7, Gov. John E. Baldacci and Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan encouraged Mainers who are planning on burning firewood for the first time this winter, or for the first time in a long time, to learn safe practices. Baldacci encouraged people to follow basic safety tips. 

Have the chimney cleaned by a certified chimney sweep, ask the local fire department about safe installation of woodstoves, ensure firewood is dried as efficiently as possible if it is not dry or seasoned and use the resources and information available through the Maine Forest Service, the fire marshal’s office and the local fire department.

Baldacci also said the state is seeking ways to help lower the overall cost of heating homes by expanding programs that provide weatherization of homes and continuing to explore renewable forms of energy such as wind, tidal and solar power.

For more information about burning firewood, Mainers should visit the Maine Forest Service Web site at www.maineforestservice.gov.