CANDIA, N.H. (CBS) — Janine Richardson couldn’t believe it when she and her husband went to bring in some firewood to heat their home and it was all gone.

“We don’t use oil at all,” said Richardson. “We heat by wood solely so it was cold, it was cold that night, luckily we had little scraps around so we burnt that for the night.”

Police in Candia New Hampshire says it’s happened at least twice this month. Heavy piles of firewood have been stolen from people’s property.

“I haven’t seen that in this area,” said Candia Police Chief Mike McGillen. “I can’t recall having many investigations like this.”

A cord of wood can be worth up to $250, and police are not sure if the wood is being stolen by people who want to sell it, or if they need the wood to keep warm.

“If someone was desperate and needed the wood they could just come to the town,” said Chief McGillen. “There’s a lot of good people here who would give out wood, give out oil, give assistance in a heartbeat, they don’t need to go around taking it.”

A cord of wood is about eight feet long, four feet wide, and four feet tall.

For Janine Richardson, it’s not about the money. It’s the principle that someone stole from her home. And that all of her hard work was wasted.

“So obviously we’re angry because we cut all our wood and I’m the one who splits it with the log splitter my husband built me,” said Richardson.

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