@74. I am in the process of selling my house in suburbia, in the Greater Philadelphia PA area. In Philadelphia, I have a fireplace, original to the house from 1900. My area has sufficient wood to get me through at least one winter (restricting my sq footage to a minimum) plus the 1-2 cords of wood I keep. I have a dependable wood supplier. I store the wood behind the garage.
I agree with @crowbar. You can also use the wood ash instead of ice melt. I worry about the toxicity of coal, plus my NY wood stove doesn’t require any electricity. My power goes out routinely in NY. Also, every 2-3 years, the UpState region gets a storm that causes a power outage of 5 days or more. Each of had to prep for our area. For my areas wood makes sense. It might not for your area/region.