Firewood suppliers, stove dealers and other businesses report more activity as Jan. 1, 2000, approaches

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Getting Ready for Y2K: Firewood suppliers, stove dealers and other businesses report more activity as Jan. 1, 2000, approaches

Business, The New Mexican - 9/26/1999

When the temperatures start to drop and autumn winds begin turning the aspen leaves yellow, Andrew Lopez's firewood business tends to pick up as customers order a cord or two for their fireplaces.

This year, Lopez says, business has been a little stronger than usual, and it's not just because people expect this winter to be colder than last.

It seems Y2K and the fears that the electric and natural-gas utilities could have some problems come Jan. 1 are causing people to buy more wood for heating and fireplaces.

Others are checking into wood-burning stoves, while the real pessimists are snapping up gasoline-powered generators to keep the lights burning if the power goes off.

Y2K refers to the concern that some computers might misread the date 2000 and shut down, throwing the economy into chaos. Utility companies, banks, airlines, the government and others say it is unlikely there will be major disruptions. But some people are concerned enough to stockpile firewood, food and other items to prepare for what might happen.

"I'm always pretty busy this time of year, but this year I'm a lot busier than usual," said Lopez, whose Firewood Co. of Santa Fe is based in Rowe, a small community outside Pecos. "Some of it does come from concerns about Y2K. I have customers who usually buy a half-cord ordering a whole cord and other customers who buy one cord buying two."

Lopez tries to reassure his customers, some of whom have been buying wood from him for 25 years, not to worry too much about what might happen after Dec. 31, but those soothing words don't always work.

"The people who say they're not concerned about Y2K are the same people who are buying their wood early," he said. "I have some people who are buying five and six cords. There are always a few people who are a little paranoid."

Under those circumstances, it might seem that prices would go up, but Lopez said he hasn't raised his prices since 1997 and won't do so this year, at least for now.

"If there's a huge run on wood, that will make a difference," he said.

In Santa Fe at the Rmos Wood Yard on Camino del Monte Sol, the concerns about Y2K "have been wonderful for business," said Maria Rmos Smith. "We generally just have a skeleton crew in the summer, but we didn't do that this summer since a lot of our regular customers started ordering their firewood way back when. We never closed this summer."

Smith said some people don't mention Y2K when they order wood, while others do. "They're the ones that say they'd better get two loads now," she said.

On a recent late-summer day, "It was colder than usual," Smith said. "I have 15 orders to schedule before I go home this evening, and I've had a lot of calls checking on our supply."

She said there was a 2=-week waiting period for people calling to order fire wood.

CJ's Landscaping and Firewood, which is owned and managed by Tamara and Christopher Montoya, has seen "a big demand for firewood," Tamara Montoya said. "We're getting four to five calls a day, and we're having a hard time finding suppliers.

The calls started coming 1= months ago, she added, "and I think Y2K has a lot to do with it."

At some wood yards, however, business is good, but not necessarily because of Y2K worries.

Up north in Chacsn, Reina Garcia-Baremore, owner with her husband, Clay, of La Joya Enterprises, has been receiving calls "almost every day" for firewood, though no one has said they're concerned about Y2K.

"That's possibly the reason, but I think people expect it to be a cold winter, too," she said. "I imagine Y2K is a part of it, but nobody has mentioned it."

It's not just firewood that Y2K worrywarts are buying.

The Firebird has been selling wood-burning stoves in Santa Fe since 1977, and owner Gene Butler said sales in recent months have been "kind of spotty" following a spurt in sales in the fall of 1998 and the spring of 1999.

"We're gearing up for an increase between now and the end of the year," he said. "The hearth industry as a whole has been trying to gear up in expectation of such an increase."

The Firebird is also stocking substantially more insulated chimneys this season, he added, devices that are needed for wood-burning stoves. The business also is selling stoves that can run on propane and don't need electricity to function.

"The general perception is that electricity will be the first thing to go if there is a problem with utilities," Butler said. "I personally think that natural gas could be affected as well."

Butler said that although sales have not yet taken off, "My main worry is that there could be a spike at the last moment, with people in a major panic. That could be difficult to deal with."

Gasoline-powered electric generators are some people's answer to Y2K, and Bryan George, owner of Santa Fe Power Equipment, said he has seen steady sales of such equipment to people worried about a loss of power when the year turns.

"There has been a lull in the excitement recently," he said. "I think the biggest run I had was in April and May. But now I think people are starting to get more concerned about it again."

George has a good supply of generators in stock, mostly small to medium-size ones ranging from 4,000 to 12,000 watts.

"You can run a whole house with a 12,000-watt generator if you're careful," he said, adding that such a generator costs about $4,000.

Many people buying the devices live in the country and are particularly worried about their water pumps breaking down if the power fails.

"Pumping water is the big thing," George said. "People don't want to take a chance that they end up with 12 horses standing around thirsty."

At this late date, not everybody looking for a generator is going to find the right size.

"I've had some stuff on order for months and months," George said. "As a matter of fact, I got a call from the state Highway Department looking for a 40,000-watt generator. I told them they might as well forget about it."

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Y2KOK.ORG), September 26, 1999

Answers

Will firewood go as high as gold?

-- The Count of Meijer Crisco (40@cansof.course), September 26, 1999.

Related topic. I live in a city in Canada, and have noticed a strange pile of goods in the local WAL-MART that was NOT there just last week. I know this since I was looking at them just a while ago, and wondering to myself "If Y2K was on people's minds, there would be a lot more than the 1 or 2 of each that I see here." I am talking about small home fireproof safe boxes, not the full-size safes, that sell for about $30. They are mostly SENTRY 100 models, with 315 cubic centimeters of space. They are rated for a 1550 degree fire for 1/2 hour. There is now a whole big shelf full of them. Surely does not class as a Halloween item! Christmas, perhaps??

-- profit_of_doom (doom@helltopay.ca), September 26, 1999.

I have maintained for a while that only with the shortening of days and the dipping of the thermometer will the instinctual limbic parts of DGIs' brains be shocked into action. It is normal, though belated, to think of laying in stores when nature begins throwing the big neon messages your way. The scurrying will now begin. As for my household, we take delivery of 3 1/2 cords of wood tomorrow to supplement the existing cord. The woodstove was purchased two years ago. The propane-powered generator is just about ready and the gas log and 400-lbs propane just need a quick maintenance check. I was motivated last summer to start making preps so that I could be worry free by now. Just about there. Now I have to keep prodding the DGIs around me and in my family to at least do something other than make a mental note to come visit me.

-- Kurt Ayau (Ayau@iwinet.com), September 26, 1999.

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