Mainers, Gripped By Bitter Cold, Fear Rising Fuel Costs

SANFORD, ME — Elizabeth Parker, 88, of Sanford, Maine, constantly fears that she'll fun out of fuel in the frigid winter months. She remains vigilant in monitoring the gauge outside her trailer, but she is only allowed to request a fuel delivery thanks to federal aid when her gauge dips to one-eighth of a tank, she said.

"I couldn't get along without it," said Parker, who lives with her 93-year-old husband, Robert Parker, along with a cat, a dog and four birds.

Plunging temperatures across half the country on Thursday underscored a stark reality for low-income Americans who rely on heating aid: Their dollars aren't going to go as far this winter because of rising energy costs.

Forecasters warned people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from an arctic blast that's gripping a large swath from the Midwest to the Northeast, where the temperature, without the wind chill factored in, dipped to minus 32 degrees on Thursday morning in Watertown, New York.

Even before the cold snap, the Department of Energy projected that heating costs were going to track upward this winter, and many people are keeping a wary eye on their fuel tanks to ensure they don't run out.

The burden caused by higher prices and higher energy usage is felt by all Americans, especially those who struggle to stay warm.

Prolonged, dangerous cold weather has also sent advocates for the homeless scrambling to get people off the streets and to bring in extra beds for them. Warming centers also were set up in some locations. Frozen pipes and dead car batteries added to the misery across the region.

Bitter cold has gripped much of the country. In ohio, a dog was found frozen solid on a home's porch as the temperatures plummeted.

In western New York and Erie, Pennsylvania, residents were still cleaning up from massive snowfall. Firefighters had to use a bucket loader to rescue someone trapped in her home in Lorraine, New York.

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