As summer comes to an end and the fall season approaches, buying fire wood is essential for millions of home owners. Campers also need firewood for those cold nights staying away from home. It's a great idea to plan ahead on where to buy firewood and estimate how much you'll need for your camping trip or to get you through the winter season.

A good rule of thumb for buying firewood is to always buy your firewood locally and get the best price possible. When you purchase your firewood in the location you are going to burn it, you save the expense of shipping it a long distance and you save yourself the possibility of transporting dangerous insects and diseases and the possibility of killing millions of trees in the process.

You can easily purchase your firewood from stores and gas stations, hardware stores and even campsites across the country. All of these locations provide a good source of readily available firewood that is precut, dried and bundled for your convenience. The yellow pages in a phone directory is a great place to find a local dealer when you're not familiar with the area you are traveling in.

When you are camping you can contact your state or federal forest near your site and ask if they know of any local distributors. If you find when you are ready to leave your campsite that you have extra firewood left over, leave it for the next campers instead of taking it home with you. This insures you won't take the chance of spreading unwanted insects and disease along with you and your firewood.

Be sure the firewood you purchase is clean and dry and hasn't been treated with any chemicals. Make sure you follow all safety guidelines when burning your firewood and always make sure your fire is completely extinguished before leaving your campsite. When burning firewood always make sure you have adequate ventilation and make sure not to have any flammable objects close to the flame.

When buying firewood from a dealer, always inquire as to where the firewood was cut. If the firewood was cut from a location of more than 50 miles away or from another county, find another dealer to get your firewood from. There are state and local penalties now for transporting firewood long distance and the fines can be very costly.

It's always nice if you happen to live in a rural area and have your own trees to cut for your firewood, as this will save you the added expense of purchasing the wood. Having your own trees however also means chopping down the trees and using a chain saw and a wood splitter to get the pieces the right size to burn.