Unalaska, AK – A worsening fuel crisis in Nikolski has led the local tribal council to declare a disaster emergency for the village.

Nikolski is down to 400 gallons of oil for the village power plant, enough for just a few days. Council President Arnold Dushkin said that residents were gathering in the few houses that still had enough fuel for heat.

"There's some people here with fuel yet, so we're getting together to keep everybody warm," he said.

Nikolski ordered a fuel delivery from Delta Western Fuels in July, but the company's barge didn't make it out to the island before the winter storms began. Since then, the village has been receiving small emergency shipments by plane, mostly from Unalaska via ACE Cargo, another of which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow if the weather permits. But those deliveries have become difficult, too--the village's front-end loader, which was used to clear the airfield, was pulled into the ocean and badly damaged during an aborted fuel delivery operation last month, which means the village is depending on the wind to keep snow off the runway for planes.

Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association CEO Dmitri Philemonof sent a letter to Governor Palin today asking for state help. So far this winter, the village has spent more than $48,000 on emergency shipments of fuel.