Cold snap has firewood company working hard

While Saskatchewan continues to be in a deep freeze, many people are choosing to thaw out in front of a fireplace.

That has Leslie Matechuk, one of the owners of Woodchuck Wood Sales in White City, quite busy.

“(Business) has been really good. Everybody is still wanting to sit by the fire and get nice and warm in the evening. People are coming for all different amounts of wood. Some of them are coming for a little box full and some are coming for a truckload,” she explained.

In fact, it’s so cold that her company can’t risk running its Bobcat loader. That means every piece of wood needs to be loaded by hand.

“Sometimes that’s a deterrent for people coming, but we’re still doing very well considering how cold it is,” she said.

While many might not enjoy working outside when there is a wind chill of well below -40 C, Matechuk tries to stay optimistic.

“It’s good exercise, yeah,” she said with a laugh.

She said her customers have been excited to load up on wood, whether it’s to stay warm or to de-stress from the pandemic.

“(Most of our customers) are all pumped that they can still get some wood,” she said. “Usually, nobody’s coming in a bad mood. They’re just happy to still be able to get it … That’s a comforting thing, to sit by the fire. They love it.”

A warm fireplace will likely be appreciated by many in the coming days, but an end to the cold snap is in sight.

On the heels of record low temperatures in many parts of Saskatchewan, Environment Canada is forecasting a return to seasonal temperatures starting Monday.