For after disaster use in an urban or suburban setting the one thing may places have is wood. Propane, gasoline, kerosene, butane and electricity might all be expected to be in short supply. Even sunshine might be hard to come by in some situations but in those areas, even assuming there are no trees or woods, wood is easy to get. Look at after the tornado, hurricane or tsunami photographs, lots of wood from demolished buildings is piled up. If you had a hatchet or say you would have more wood to burn than you would ever need.

In rural areas and wilderness camping in most areas you have wide swaths of forest and scrub brush that is full of suitable things to feed a wood stove.