Hundreds of people yesterday waited patiently in a queue that stretched at least 2km along the road to Wenita Forest Products' forestry block on Mt Allan for a share of about 1000 tonnes of cut-price firewood.
Much of it was from logs salvaged from the 800ha ravaged by fire in February.
Richard and Shamara Moulin, of Concord, waited nearly two hours to load their trailer at the biggest of three loading sites.
"But no, we didn't mind waiting for this. We've got a good Sunday outing out of it," Mr Moulin joked, as his father, John - who uses a heat pump to warm his home - loaded another log on the trailer.
"You don't mind waiting for firewood as cheap as this."
The sale was a goodwill gesture to the community affected by the three-day Mt Allan fire.
Smoke drifted across the Taieri Plain, and disrupted aircraft and the Taieri Gorge Train.
Wenita volunteers charged $15 for a single-axle trailer-load, $30 for a double-axle trailer and $50 for a truck.
Proceeds are destined for the Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter Trust.
In Dunedin, dry split pine costs about $50 a cubic metre.
Garry, Anne-Marie and 12-year-old Jodi Patterson arrived to queue at 9am, and were loading their trailer at 11.30am.
Taking a breather, Mrs Patterson said the wood would likely sit in a pile until the family had enough energy to split it.
Warren Smith and Steve Munro started the day expecting to make three trips to Mt Allan.
Like the Pattersons, they started loading their first trailer load just after 11am.
"Doesn't look like we'll be back - I think we might've underestimated it," Mr Smith said.
He was not alone.
Wenita volunteer Paul Greaves said he had no idea there were so many trailers in Dunedin.
Back at the gates, the Wenita forester co-ordinating the event, John Kerr, said he was "completely blown away" by the response.
The queue, "easily a couple of hundred" vehicles at any one time during the morning, had not caused problems.
"The thing is, people haven't said anything about waiting so long.
They've still got smiles on their faces when they come in, and they've got bigger smiles when they go out."
Last night, Wenita volunteer Anne Horsewood said the many bargain-hunters made "barely a dent" in the radiata pine stockpile.
