He feels kind of stupid, but in all the mess after the earthquake, Jacob had gone into a sort of narrow headspace, where the only thing he was worried about was right in front of him. He wished that he could be the heroic type to go around and rescue people or to do something like heal them, but he can't. He's a baker and he can keep the ovens going, but the trouble is that the earthquake had made a bit of a mess in the kitchen and the oven is currently without decent wood to get it stoked up. "I need firewood," he says, which ought to be easy enough to get, but he's in half a panic right now and he's not thinking straight.

If he were, he'd know he could go borrow from the inn, but right now, all he's thinking is 'I ought to cut some down', like that's the best answer to all this.