Douglas Fir Firewood

If you live anywhere in the Pacific Northwest and you burn wood, you've burned Douglas Fir. It's basically unavoidable. Every tree service has a pile of it, every Craigslist ad lists it, and half the time when someone says "firewood" around here they just mean Doug Fir by default. And honestly? For a softwood, it's pretty solid.

At 17.4 million BTU per cord, Douglas Fir hangs right in the middle of the pack, nowhere near the hardwood heavyweights like oak or hickory, but well above most other softwoods. Check the firewood BTU chart and you'll see it punches above its weight class for a conifer. A dry cord weighs about 2,805 lbs, so it's not backbreaking to handle either. If you're mixing it with a denser hardwood for overnight burns, Doug Fir makes a great daytime wood to keep the stove cruising.

Splitting this stuff is a dream. Seriously, set a round on the block and one swing with a maul and it falls apart clean. Green rounds come in around 3,319 lbs per cord, so they're manageable even when fresh. The one knock is smoke. Doug Fir runs on the high side for smoke output, so make sure your chimney is clean and your draft is good. Sparks are minimal though, and the resin gives off a slight pleasant scent that won't stink up the house.

Seasoning is quick, 6 to 12 months and you're good. I've had splits ready in as little as 6 months stacked in an open south-facing row with good airflow. That's a huge advantage over hardwoods that need two full years. Split it in spring, burn it that winter. Simple. Compare that to something like Eastern White Pine firewood which seasons in a similar timeframe but gives you way less heat per cord.

Bottom line: Douglas Fir is the workhorse softwood of the West Coast. It's abundant, it splits easy, it seasons fast, and it throws decent heat. It won't replace a good load of oak for an overnight burn, but for shoulder season fires and keeping the house warm during the day, you'd be hard pressed to find a more available, more reliable option out here. If you've got access to it, stack it deep.