PORTLAND – Homeowners thinking of switching to firewood after filling their tanks with $3-per-gallon oil may be out of luck.

Many dealers across southern Maine say they already have commitments for their stocks of seasoned firewood, whose prices have jumped from about $220 a cord to as high as $275.

Green wood, which is not ready to be burned immediately, has remained in the $150 to $180 a cord price range.

While rising oil prices have led to higher demand for firewood, dealers say the long process of cutting, splitting and drying wood makes it difficult to quickly ramp up supply in response to shifts in the marketplace.