WAYNE COUNTY, Pa. — Businesses that help heat homes have been busy. Phones are constantly ringing with customers calling for home heating oil at Firmstone Lakewood Fuels in Honesdale to fill up or top off their fuel tanks to keep their homes warm.
"People are home hunkered down, and so usage is up a little bit, and certainly the cold weather is what really does it." Steve Firmstone said.
Firmstone says they prepare for days like this. When the forecast looks cold, there is a full staff ready to fill scheduled appointments and those that wait to refill last minute.
"If someone accidentally let themselves run out, we do our best to get to them as soon as possible. Oftentimes, it's that day or the next day."
Employees at Woody's Fireplace near Honesdale say this is one of the busiest seasons they've had in nearly 30 years, and it's not just because of the stretch of cold weather.
"The traffic of people moving here full time. It's been cold; they're looking for gas, wood, coal, stoves, fuel," Delores Carney said.
Carney says they have appointments booked up from now until May on service and installations. Now that the temperatures are dropping, people are home more and finding it's cold during the day and want another heat source.
"We haven't seen a lot more cash and carry. It's just our staff getting anything installed; you're selling multiple units each day."
No matter what your heating source is, Firmstone recommends setting up automatic delivery if the company you use has it.
"Take that worry out of the equation," he advised. "Let the computer track your usage and let the computer decide when it's time for a top off."
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