North Bay Cold Snap Spells Profits for Firewood Suppliers

SANTA ROSA (KPIX) -- If you are a fire-in-the-fireplace kind of person, the extended forecast is looking quite good. But these are -- of course -- changing times. So how is the business of firewood?

"The firewood business, over the past couple years, has improved," said Glenn Kantock, owner of All Seasons Firewood in Santa Rosa.

Kantock says a number of things have been good for business. One is those PG&E public safety power shutoffs.

"It was good," Kantock said. "For us and many other people ... the people that sell generators." An even better business driver, however, is a winter that delivers rain.

"A lot of times we see that there are fewer spare-the-air days during rainy periods," Kantock explains. "Rain also makes people think 'hey, we ... probably need a fire."

Kris McKelvey likes the greener, recycled-wood option to keep her house warm. "When this burns, you really can't see any smoke that comes out of our wood stove," she said.

Something else Kantock tries to be sensitive about: the fire scars that still haven't fully healed in this region.

"Any wildfire, whether it's the Tubbs or the recent fire," Kantock says of wood that arrives with burn marks. "It's a reminder of what happened."

So, while some areas may be moving away from the fireplace, northern Sonoma County is keeping the home fires burning.

"The further north you go away from highly populated areas," Kantock says, "people rely more on our natural fuels."