Can you afford a cord?

Firewood prices in upward spiral

Ahhhhh. Nothing like the warm glow of logs gently flaming in the old fireplace.

The smell. The welcoming warmth. The crackle and pop. The dollar signs wafting up and out your chimney.

Sorry to throw a little cold soot onto the flames, but if you want a cheery hearth this winter, be prepared to see a lot of your hard-earned moola going up in smoke.

A survey of five firewood companies here in town found firewood going for anywhere from $195 to $275 a cord, delivered, depending on type of wood and availability.

That compares with mesquite at $160-$180, cedar at $140-$175 and pine at $140-$170 11 years ago, according to a Star story. In 1982, mesquite was $90 a cord. In '83, pecan sold for $132.50 a cord.

Pecan seems to be the toughest to find.

``We get ours from Texas. The only reason we still get it at all is some people are so allergic to other woods,'' says Beckie Sharp of Arizona Cordwood, 3725 E. Fort Lowell Road.

For pecan, Arizona Cordwood charges $275 a unit, delivered, which is slightly smaller than a cord.

OK, time for a little math lesson here. The legal definition of a cord is 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

Divide that 8-foot length evenly and you come up with 24-inch-long logs.

But most Tucson fireplaces, says Sharp, are too small to accommodate a 2-foot log. ``What we sell is 18 to 22 inches long,'' says Sharp.

Measured that way, the wood is sold as a unit instead of a cord.

``You lose a few inches. It doesn't amount to very much, but it concerns some people. That's why it's described as a unit,'' says Scott Page, yard manager of Rick Westfall's Raw Wood, 8855 N. Sanders Road.

Both Raw Wood and Arizona Cordwood are owned by Westfall. Hence, both companies offer identical woods and prices.

The companies will sell the wood either picked up or, for $20 more, delivered and stacked within 10 feet of the delivery truck.

The mesquite comes from Mexico, the cedar and piņon from Heber, in Northern Arizona.

``What's popular changes from year to year,'' says Page. ``Pecan is real popular, but this year the prices have scared a few away.''

Both mesquite and pecan are hard woods, burning longer than piņon or cedar, say both Page and Sharp.

``Pecan burns a little longer and cleaner than mesquite,'' says Page. ``Mesquite has a strong odor. Some don't like it, but it's great for cooking.''

Cedar and piņon, says Sharp, ``are medium woods. They burn faster, crackle and pop a little bit, but they smell very, very nice.''

Nevertheless, says Sharp, ``Mesquite is our No. 1 seller. It's traditional. People love it.''

Martinez Firewood, 5133 S. Nogales Highway, has mesquite, oak and pecan. ``We plan on having juniper later,'' says manager Joe Gardner.

Wood is sold by the cord, says Gardner, with logs cut 18 inches long.

The company charges $20 for delivery, $10 more for stacking.

The company gets its pecan near Douglas. ``There's a grove there,'' says Gardner. Its mesquite and oak come from Mexico.

``It's getting a little harder to find mesquite,'' says Gardner, whose company does its own hauling. ``And oak is real hard to get. Sometimes we have to go all the way to Cananea,'' nearly a four hours' drive from Tucson.

Scrounging for wood

``It's a combination of soft and hard wood,'' says owner Brad Brown. ``It makes a real good fire.''

The company's piņon and cedar come from Heber, the mesquite from Mexico, the pecan ``wherever we can get it,'' says Brown.

``We're scrounging. We jump around from Sahuarita to Picacho. A lot depends on how it's being trimmed that year.

Pecan and mesquite are his most popular woods, though pecan is cleaner-burning. ``Some people say they're allergic to the smell of mesquite,'' he says.

Brown offers a full cord, not a unit. ``We put more pieces in there,'' he says. He also charges a $25 delivery fee, $10 more for stacking.

Mesquite from Mexico

``Mesquite is about all we can get anymore,'' says manager Roy Harris. ``The prices they want for pecan, people won't pay it.''

His company, too, gets its mesquite from Mexico. ``Mesquite is a nostalgic-type wood,'' says Harris. ``And it doesn't burn fast like pine and cedar.''

Buy in summer

Just about all of the companies we surveyed shave anywhere from $10 to $50 off the price of a cord or unit of wood in the summer.

It's not free to cut your own

If you want to cut your own wood on national forest service lands in Arizona, it'll cost you $50 for the permit and who knows how much for the pickup truck, chain saw and liniment for those aching muscles.

Still determined to pursue this route? OK, it'll be a long one - all the way to Southeastern Arizona.

Right now, only the Douglas Ranger District is offering permits in its area, which includes the mountain ranges of the Chiricahuas, Dragoons and Peloncillos, says Carmen Melendez, support service administrator with the Coronado National Forest.

The permits, good for one cord of wood, expire after 30 days and apply only to dead and down wood.

``We recommend people be familiar with where they're going,'' says Melendez. ``People will drive all the way to the Chiricahuas and get upset because they don't get their full cord. And there are no refunds on the permits.''

Incidentally, wood gathering in the nearby Santa Catalina Mountains hasn't been allowed for years, Melendez adds.

For more information on obtaining a permit, call the Forest Service office at 670-4552 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Firewood bundles

Most of the bundles consist of five or six fireplace-size logs, wrapped in plastic.

A spot check around town showed firewood available at:

* Circle K, 8788 N. Oracle Road. Cost: $3.99 a bundle.

* Fry's, 7812 E. Speedway. Cost: $3.99.

* ABCO, 9125 E. Tanque Verde. Cost: $3.29.

* Safeway, 4752 E. Sunrise Drive. Cost: $3.49.

Incidentally, most of the wood sold is juniper, a fragrant-smelling, medium-burning wood.

Photos by Bruce McClelland, The Arizona Daily Sta

Colin Brauer, 11, surrounded by firewood, hauls a large piece for his mother, who was taking it home for the holidays

Christi McCoy opts for purchased mesquite

Chart by The Arizona Daily Star

How firewood prices stack up around town