FARMINGDALE -- With heating oil prices still hovering at $4.40 per gallon and with fears rising of a severe winter, Gov. John Baldacci is starting to encourage Mainers to use wood heat this winter rather than oil.

"Wood is a resource this state is rich in," Baldacci said Thursday at A.W. Allen Firewood, a Farmingdale firewood dealer. "This is a Maine solution, using Maine resources, which will benefit Maine people."

The governor filmed a public service announcement at A.W. Allen urging consumers to use safety when burning wood to heat their homes, and to refrain from using creosote-treated wood such as railroad ties and telephone poles as fuel, as noxious chemicals are released from them as they burn.

State officials also warned Mainers to make sure they get what they pay for when buying wood.

Consumers who choose to heat with wood instead of oil need to be wary of price gougers or being shorted the amount of wood they pay for, said Carl Blanche, a consumer protection inspector for the Maine Department of Agriculture.

"I have been getting complaints from people saying they have been shorted by dealers," Blanche said. "They bought a cord of wood only to realize they were given much less."

Blanche recommends consumers ask firewood dealers for a delivery ticket stating the amount of firewood purchased and the price, along with the name and address of the party who sold it.

After purchasing a cord, he continued, consumers should check how much wood is in the cord.

"Stack it, measure it," Blanche said. "You may be surprised. And in this day and age, people simply cannot afford to pay for firewood twice."

Last October, A.W. Allen Firewood owner Andy Allen told the Kennebec Journal the prices for a cord of wood from his business -- which ranged from $200 to $250 -- would have to increase this fall.

"Running our operation now costs an additional $240 a week," he said at the time.

Ten months later, much has changed -- and not much of it for the better.

"The price of wood is still high," Allen said. "Mills still have a high demand for pulp. We're competing for the same wood, really."

The cost to run his business has also increased, as the fuel it takes to cut and transport wood is higher than it was this time last year.

A cord of wood in central Maine last fall ranged in price from $180 to $250.

For a quality cord of firewood, Allen said, people will have to reach deeper into their pockets this fall, though diesel prices have started to decline during the past three weeks.

"For a cord of seasoned wood, you're looking at $300, and $325 for a cord of kiln-dried," he said.

"Green wood's going up, too," added Mike Allen, Andy Allen's brother and business helper. "It'll be about $250 to $260 for a cord."

The Allen brothers said they have noticed a fear of a more severe winter than last year's has started to spread. Sales picked up starting in June, and A.W. Allen Firewood has been between three and four months ahead of where it was one year ago in sales.

Customers have also been vocal about the increasing costs to heat their homes come winter, Mike Allen said.

"People have told me they're scared, even though they have purchased their wood," he said. "People are getting nervous and scared."

Across the state, the cost of seasoned firewood has jumped roughly 50 percent from a year ago, but it remains a relative bargain when compared with heating oil, which is nearly $2 per gallon more than last year.

That's why customers are doubling their usual orders and some firewood dealers are turning away customers.

"We've really never seen anything like this before," said Lloyd Irland, who teaches forestry economics at Yale University and runs a consulting business in Maine.

While most heating oil customers aren't dumping the fuel altogether, they're using less by upgrading furnaces, turning down thermostats, insulating their homes and turning to alternative fuels, including firewood.

Firewood remains a deal for those who don't mind the hassle of lugging it around and periodically feeding their wood stoves or fireplaces.

On average, a cord of firewood has the same heating potential as 155 gallons of heating oil, said Peter Lammert of the Maine Forest Service. Thus, a cord of seasoned firewood costing $300 is a bargain compared to 155 gallons of heating oil costing $685.10, based on $4.42 per gallon, the current statewide average.

It's a stark contrast to the mid-1990s, when heating oil sold for around 79 or 80 cents a gallon -- and a cord of seasoned firewood was about $125.

And the rush to buy more firewood is having an impact on heating oil dealers.

Last year, heating oil consumption fell 13 percent nationwide, in part because of homeowners' fuel efficiency efforts, said John Huber, president of the National Oilheat Research Alliance.

Huber expects consumption to drop again this winter, but not by as much.

Heating oil is the dominant home-heating fuel in New England, ranging from 75 percent of homes in Maine to about 40 percent in Massachusetts.

Still, David Rooker feels lucky he was able to get the two cords piled in his driveway in South Portland.

"With the price of heating oil, we'll have fires every night," said Rooker, who estimates he saved $1,000 on oil the first year he installed a wood stove.

The savings have grown as oil prices have risen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Meghan Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com