The demand for firewood in the dying weeks of winter has left West Coast suppliers struggling to keep up.
H and H Firewood and Coal owner Brian Hahn said the combination of a wet summer and the latest bite of winter had depleted stocks, and they were now kiln drying wood to keep up.
"The wood is being dried in the kiln before being stored in the tunnel houses to help cope with the demand but we do have a good supply," Mr Hahn said.
Kenneth Bee, who works on the coal face of the Kaiata Park outlet, said they had also had keen interest from Christchurch customers and suppliers in recent months.
"They have no wood in Christchurch due to the wet summer months and we're fielding inquiries from suppliers over there wanting to buy our logs and wood," Mr Bee said.
"Earlier, our five 100-foot tunnel houses were chocka, but they got pretty low. Without the kiln we would have been struggling to have a really good supply of dry firewood available. There has been a real demand."
At Dobson, Foster's Flaming Good Firewood co-owner Francie Foster said they had experienced a marked increase in demand, with Christchurch and southern customers putting pressure on supplies.
"It's a combination of the wet summer and recent cold winter which brings a lot of people across from Christchurch with their trailers," Mrs Foster said.
"We try to keep our stocks one year ahead but a lot of our wood went out in the summer so our stocks are low. We still have a good supply of logs in the yard and a good supply of firewood, but we're flat out replenishing to keep a year ahead."
Hokitika supplier Birchfield's Coal has also noticed an increase.
"It has been quite high this winter, busier than other years," a spokesman said.
