AUSTIN, Texas — By around 3 p.m. Wednesday, Woodchuck Delivery's firewood lot in South Austin saw an estimated 100 customers ahead of potentially freezing weather in Central Texas.
"We keep selling out and get another load brought to us," said Josh Jenkinson, a co-owner of the Austin-based company. "They’re using it for heat. People really like to entertain with wood nowadays, they like to get outside ... firepit, smoking meat, stuff like that."
Woodchuck Delivery, which has been around since 2014, said it's usual to see business on the rise when the temperatures dip.
"When it starts to get cold, it’s like Mother’s Day in the restaurant business. It just floods in," Jenkinson said. "When the weather dips, the sales go up."
By Wednesday afternoon, Woodchuck Delivery had sold out of firewood twice in the same day, with trucks coming to bring more supply whenever they run out.
It's a sign, Jenkinson said, that if people need firewood, they should get it before places run out.
"For situations like this, we’ve been going nonstop. Today [Wednesday], we’ve had over 100 customers and it will be like this all week long," he said.
Woodchuck Delivery also has options for commercial delivery and residential home delivery.
If you're planning to light a fire in your fireplace, you may want to call an expert to make sure your chimney is good to go. Like firewood sellers, chimney cleaning companies also see a spike in business ahead of cold weather."
"We get real busy usually around the end of October and it stays busy throughout the season and any cold spell like this, the one that's coming, just, we get a heavy influx of calls," said James Luckenbach, a general manager for Nature's Own Chimney Cleaning.
It's not just convenient to have the chimney cleaned and inspected if you're using it due to the cold weather – Luckenbach said it's also the safe thing to do.
"You don't want to be using a chimney that's not been cleaned and at least inspected. Not all chimneys need to be cleaned, but they do need to be inspected to make sure that there's no blockages, ensure that it is safe to use if there's a lot of fire, to limit the risk of a fire inside your home," he said. "Only after an inspection can you know that it's safe to burn, and you don't want to be thinking about it when it gets cold. You want to think about it beforehand. So you [are] prepared and you know that lighting that fire is safe."
His advice to customers is to get ahead of the busy season.
"We usually run specials in August, September prior to the busy season, and we usually have the next day or 48-hour turnarounds. And right now, we're 72 to 96 hours out from any kind of work to be done," he said.
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