How Much Firewood Do You Really Need To Keep On Hand For Emergencies?

Whether you're surviving an extended power outage or are buried under several feet of snow, having the materials you need to make it through an emergency could mean the difference between life and death. Those who use firewood to heat their homes are at an advantage thanks to the fact that their heat source does not require grid power in order to function. However, they still need to be prepared with enough wood to make sure they can make it through an emergency. The question is: how much?

A two year supply of wood is the bare minimum for emergency preparedness. If this seems like a lot, try to extend your mind beyond the burning season. Where I live in New Hampshire, our wood burning stoves are running from the end of October into April. That's seven months worth of wood for one season. Extend that to 14 months and you have your emergency pile. Collecting beyond two years is wise, though if you are limited for space, focus on getting that primary emergency pile settled.

While this might sound excessive, think about the potential of not having it. What if you can't get the wood you need delivered? What if your primary firewood collector is ill? What if, what if, etc. Any scenario you can come up with that calls for having more wood at your disposal demonstrates why having a backup supply is so vital.

It is difficult to approximate how much wood would be needed because each wood-burning household is different. For example, I go through roughly four cords of wood each burning season. My friend in Maine, who has a hyper efficient masonry heater, only burns about two cords. So, our emergency piles would look drastically different.

However, my friend and I live in areas that have extended cold seasons. Someone who lives in a milder climate doesn't need to put away as much wood. They might go through only a cord or two because their typical temperatures don't dip particularly low. So, it really depends on where you live and how much wood you burn through to calculate how much firewood is needed for your two year emergency supply.

If this is your very first season heating with wood, here are some quick calculations to make to judge how much wood you'll need to burn: colder climates need two to three cords per 1,000 square feet of heating space; milder climates need one to two cords. So, double those for your emergency piles and you're looking at between two to six cords of wood. Work towards having this as a separate pile that you keep for emergencies, and have your standard pile of seasoned hardwood as the one you work with during the season. Hopefully, that emergency pile will go untouched for years at a time.