Enlarge By Joel Page, AP Paul Reed works with a log splitter at Reed's Firewood in Durham, Maine. Demand is growing as homeowners load up on firewood to try and head off high winter heating-oil bills. DURHAM, Maine  On a recent scorching-hot summer day, workers at Reed's Firewood used heavy equipment to cut and split logs into firewood until it was too dark to see. Despite its relentless pace, the family-run business is failing to keep up with demand as homeowners shellshocked by the price of heating oil look to firewood as a way to lower their bills this winter. The cost of seasoned firewood in Maine has jumped about 50% from a year ago, but it remains a relative bargain compared with heating oil, which is nearly $2 a gallon more than it was last year. Many customers are doubling their usual orders, and some firewood dealers are turning away customers. "We've really never seen anything like this before," said Lloyd Irland, who teaches forestry economics at Yale University. While most heating oil customers aren't abandoning the fuel altogether, they're using less by upgrading furnaces, turning down thermostats, insulating their homes and turning to alternative fuels. A survey by the Maine Forest Service found most dealers out of seasoned firewood and some short of green wood, which doesn't burn as well because it isn't as dry. Paul Reed, the owner of Reed's, tells customers he has plenty of firewood, if they're willing to wait until December and accept possible price increases. For the first time in his 23 years in the business, volatility in the market has forced Reed to abandon fixed pricing that customers count on. His price for a cord — a tight stack 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long — rose from $190 early last winter to $255 for green and $300 for seasoned wood. Firewood remains a deal for those who don't mind the hassle of lugging it around and periodically feeding their wood stoves or fireplaces. A cord of firewood has the same heating potential as 155 gallons of heating oil, said Peter Lammert of the Maine Forest Service. Thus, a cord of seasoned firewood costing $300 is a bargain compared with 155 gallons of heating oil costing $685.10, based on $4.42 a gallon, the statewide average. It's a stark contrast to the mid-1990s, when heating oil sold for 79 or 80 cents a gallon and a cord of seasoned firewood was about $125. Oil was so cheap then, trading at less than $20 a barrel vs. $115 today, that Reed resorted to calling longtime customers in the spring to drum up orders. Today, Maine's firewood producers are heavily competing for the same hardwood logs used by paper mills to produce pulp. Both are paying more because loggers have to pay so much more for diesel fuel, paper industry officials say. The rush to buy more firewood is having an impact on heating oil dealers. Last year, heating oil consumption fell 13% nationwide, in part because of homeowners' fuel-efficiency efforts, said John Huber, president of the National Oilheat Research Alliance. Huber expects consumption to drop again this winter, but not by as much. The run on firewood started last winter, when heating oil surpassed $3 a gallon and kept on climbing. This summer, some customers were close to panic as heating oil approached $5 a gallon before dropping over the last couple of weeks. Heating oil is the dominant home-heating fuel in New England, ranging from 75% of homes in Maine to about 40% in Massachusetts. David Rooker feels lucky that he was able to get the two cords piled in his driveway in South Portland: "With the price of heating oil, we'll have fires every night." He estimates he saved $1,000 on oil the first year he installed a wood stove. Reed's, Maine's largest firewood dealer, has a pile of logs stacked 20 feet high and stretching more than a football field long. The company expects to deliver nearly 4,000 cords, a record. But other dealers are struggling to get raw logs. Southern Maine Firewood, a large dealer in Gorham, had only 100 cords recently but orders for 1,000. "It's just a nightmare right now," owner Jake Dyer said. "You'd think in a state like this that you could get wood." Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more