The Inupiat village of Noatak, where temperatures dipped to 45 below or colder each of the past three days, ran out of heating oil Saturday at the village store, residents say. Elder Bernice Monroe said her 78-year-old husband drove a snowmachine to nearby Red Dog Mine to buy a drum of fuel, while the store borrowed drums from the utility pump house and began rationing sales to 10 gallons per family.

People called each other on the VHF radio asking if anyone has fuel to sell or share, said Noatak resident Hilda Booth. "My husband and I are using our fish rack woods to heat up our home because it's so cold to go out and get wood."