Keeping the home fires burning

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Everyone needs a little help from time to time. That’s the mantra of North Idaho Firewood Rescue. Now, the nonprofit organization — which has helped locals heat their homes in dire situations since 2017 — is asking for volunteers and delivery drivers to help the community access their services.

“In the beginning, when we first started, we would hear stories of people who were facing cold households because they were running out of wood,” founder Paul Krames told the Reader. “Our mission was to create an emergency resource so that any family that was dependent on firewood to heat their home would not find themselves without when they were in circumstances that were not of their doing. We became a stopgap measure and we responded quickly — usually within two days.”

North Idaho Firewood Rescue volunteers (from left): Paul Krames, David Yeats, Diane Cook, Shawn Stewart, Mike Lang, Bob Taggesell and John Harbuck. Courtesy photo.

Krames is seeking volunteers to help further that mission.

“Specifically, we need people who are willing to help make wood deliveries,” Krames said. “If they have a pickup truck, a trailer or a two-inch ball on their vehicle, we have a small utility trailer they can tow behind their car, thanks to a grant by the Community Assistance League. But we have a decent supply of wood to serve all calls this winter. We just don’t have someone to deliver because several of our volunteers are out of town.”

Firewood Rescue was founded after Krames received a call from someone in the area who was running out of firewood. Their husband was disabled, but not a veteran. Since there is already a firewood program that supplies wood to vets in need, Krames realized he could expand his program to help elderly, disabled and financially strapped people. North Idaho Firewood Rescue was born, and for seven years the organization has grown, despite operating on a shoestring budget.

The most recent expansion is a 30-foot-by-50-foot firewood shelter to keep the wood out of the elements, thanks to a little help from the community.

“Rob Osborne, a retired builder looking for a project, agreed to head up building the shelter,” Krames said. “We got the concrete donated from Interstate, which was over $1,000.”

To help fill the shelter, CAL provided a grant to Firewood Rescue for the purchase of a log truck filled with red fir, which was then bucked up and stacked to season for the winter.

“This shelter has been a major improvement,” Krames said. “Half the time, we’d have to take a sledgehammer to dislodge the wood frozen in place whenever we had to make a delivery.”

A log truck filled with Douglas fir logs was purchased thanks to a grant from the Community Assistance League. Courtesy photo.

Firewood Rescue also received a grant from the Alliance for Green Heat to help acquire a utility shed in which to store equipment.

Aside from grants, Firewood Rescue is sustained by donations from the community — both in monetary form and with seasoned firewood. It’s important to note that Firewood Rescue does not contract with homeowners to fall and buck trees.

“Whenever there is a windstorm, people tell us they have wood to donate and trees down,” Krames said. “I guess they think we’re a tree service. We’re very polite about it, but we tell them most of our volunteers are seniors.”

While Firewood Rescue supplies those in need in emergency situations, they also apply “tough love” to their recipients, according to Krames.

“We always ask them how you’re going to get your firewood in for the rest of the year,” Krames said. “We’re an emergency resource, we don’t keep people stocked with firewood for the whole winter.”

More often than not, Krames said his organization works closely with emergency assistance groups like the Community Action Partnership to help their recipients get access to the help they need after firewood deliveries.

“At the end of the day, we’re just making sure people get the help they need,” Krames said. “We just want to serve the community the best way we can.”

Those interested in volunteering can contact Paul Krames at [email protected] or visit firewoodrescue.com for more information.