Wood thefts rile chilly residents

A few pine blocks are all that remain of a wood pile at an Exeter St address.

Angry Stratford residents claim there is a wood thief on the loose, with people now locking up their wood sheds and installing security cameras to protect their hard-earned stash.

Residents say it is the second year wood has been stolen from their piles and it was hard going when the nights were cold and extra wood was not budgeted for.

One Exeter St resident, who does not want to be named, paid for $410 for a load of wood this winter.

"I put it into the shed and I was noticing it was going down more than I was using it and then one time there was a big lot of it missing."

Her wood shed is near the back of her property and the person taking the wood has to walk past the house to get to the shed. She puts money away every week to pay for the wood and now plans to padlock her wood shed.

"It's just not fair when you have prepared yourself for winter."

Warwick Rd resident Angela Pomana says although she had not had any of her wood taken she was on alert and watching to see who was around at night. She says the person would have to have a wheelbarrow or trolley and urged people in the area to keep a look out.

"It has to be during the night. As far as I am concerned it's somebody who is right here."
Angela now takes photos of her wood to keep tabs on how much she has.

"You work really hard to get that wood."

Another resident Lisa Coomey, who lives on Achilles Ave, believes around three cubic metres of wood were taken from her property last winter. This year she locked it in the car shed.

"My partner has just figured out a way to set up our security camera in the wood shed." She estimated between $200 and $250 of their wood had been stolen.

"We paid $55 a cube at the start of winter but because of people stealing it you have to source dry wood in middle of winter and price goes up to around $70 to $75 a cube.

"The more people aware of this the better. Theirs might be getting stolen without them even realising it. I thought I was going crazy with how fast the wood was going down last year until I realised what was happening."