Firewood in Blue Mountain: What Chalets Need

A Blue Mountain chalet used for a ski season with regular woodstove fires goes through one to three cords of seasoned hardwood. That wood should be cut less than 80 kilometres from where it is sold, as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency advises. It should be stacked at least 7.5 metres from any fire pit, and it should be on the property before the escarpment driveway ices. Cottage Care Company asks chalet owners to book firewood delivery in The Blue Mountains by late October, which is our own cutoff for this area, not a Town rule.

Why a chalet order is a one-shot order

Cottage Care Company's firewood page describes the pattern around Craigleith and the Village corridor as chalets that burn hard for three months and nothing for nine. For a chalet like that, the whole winter supply has to arrive in one delivery and then sit outdoors under snow until the weekend it is needed. A lake cottage used from spring to fall can top up as it goes. A ski chalet mostly cannot, because the driveway is the problem by the time the fires start.

The one to three cord range is for regular woodstove use over a ski season. A chalet that only lights a fireplace on the odd evening needs less. A chalet heated mainly by wood needs more, and our guide to firewood quantities and seasoning shows how to size an order by how the fire is used.

The driveway sets the delivery date

Escarpment driveways are often steep, and from December they are often icy. A loaded truck cannot climb an iced drive safely. An order placed in September or October can be stacked under cover at the top of the drive. A call in January can mean a drop at the bottom of the drive and a hand carry up, which costs more and takes longer. The same ice is why cottage snow removal and the firewood order are worth settling in the same call.

Where the stack goes on a sloped lot

Put the main stack on the uphill side of the building and outside the line where snow falls off the roof. A steep chalet roof sheds its load onto whatever sits below the eave. Keep a smaller ready pile inside the door, so the first fire of a Friday night does not start with a frozen tarp. Then check the stack against the fire pit, which is the next section.

The Blue Mountains rules on outdoor fires

The Town of The Blue Mountains issues no burning permits. The Town states that it does not have an Open Air Burning By-law or require open-air burning permits, and that property owners are responsible for making sure any open-air burning on their property follows the Ontario Fire Code and the Town guidelines. The Ontario Fire Code, as the Town quotes it, says open-air burning shall not take place unless the Fire Chief, an authorized designate or an Assistant to the Fire Marshal approves it.

One step applies to every chalet with a fire pit: the Town requires the use of fire pits, outdoor fireplaces and open-air burns to be reported. An owner who rents the chalet out should complete that step before the season, not leave it to a guest.

The fire pit clearance is where the woodpile comes in. The Town list ends with any other combustible material, and a stacked cord of split hardwood is combustible. On a narrow lot the fire pit and the wood rack compete for the same ground. The smaller 4.5 metre clearance for an outdoor fireplace is one reason to consider a fire bowl instead of a pit where space is tight.

What may not go on an outdoor fire

• Leaves and garden waste make excessive smoke and may not be burned. The Town landfill and recycling depot accepts them.
• No fire may contain rubber tires, plastic products, shingles, painted wood or other building materials known to create extensive smoke. That includes offcuts from a deck rebuild.
• Smoke, soot or ash that drifts onto another property falls under the Public Nuisance By-law, and By-law Enforcement responds to complaints.
• A competent person must watch the fire until it is fully out, with a portable fire extinguisher or a working garden hose on site.

On a rented chalet, the owner carries that responsibility and a guest lights the fire. Our rental guide for Blue Mountain owners covers the rest of the rental side.

Do not carry firewood up from the city

Filling an SUV with firewood at home and driving it north is the one firewood mistake that reaches beyond your own lot. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says firewood and its bark can carry insect eggs or larvae, and that moving it from home to a cottage can spread a pest such as emerald ash borer to an area that was free of it. Its advice is to ask the seller where the wood came from, and to buy wood cut less than 80 kilometres from where it is sold.

The 80 kilometre figure is advice, not law. The law applies to wood from places where regulated pests have been found: moving firewood out of those places can be a violation of the Plant Protection Act, with penalties of up to $50,000 and prosecution.

Ontario has a close example on the drive north. The province lists oak wilt, a fungal disease of oak trees, in the Township of Springwater near Barrie. Red oaks can die within 2 to 12 months of infection, and the province names sourcing and using firewood locally as a way to slow the spread. It also asks owners not to prune or wound oaks from the beginning of April to the end of July, which is worth knowing before anyone clears a view line at the chalet.

What the price covers

Cottage Care Company starts at $499 per bush cord, delivered and stacked. Our firewood page works that out to roughly $166 for a 16 inch face cord, with delivery and stacking inside the number. When you compare that with a price from another seller, ask for the split length first, because a face cord changes volume with it.

Every delivery is photo-logged to the owner account, with the stacked wood, its location and the quantity, so an owner in the city can see the result without driving up. Owners on regular property visits, the core of cottage care in The Blue Mountains, can also have the rack checked and refilled through the winter. Owners who add a cottage monitoring system get alerts between those visits.

The number on a first order depends on the appliance, the rack and how many weekends the chalet is used. The firewood page says the quote is based on usage and access, so bring those three things and the stack location to the booking.

Frequently asked questions