NEWPORT – Wednesday night’s selectmen’s meeting brought dire predictions regarding what could happen to people this winter if they cannot meet their fuel needs.

“There will be carbon monoxide deaths.”

“Pellet stoves will be put in the closet and vented out through the bathroom.”

“People are soaking wood pellets in motor oil to get them to burn hotter.”

“The ambulance and rescue will be running more because people will forgo their prescriptions for heating oil.”

“Our neighbors will sit in their houses, cold, too proud to ask for help.”

These scenarios were discussed by firefighters, EMTs, pastors, those already working with the disadvantaged and officials with the Penobscot County Emergency Management Agency. And those scenarios will only be the tip of the iceberg, the experts said, if fuel prices continue at today’s level or increase.

The Newport selectmen called Wednesday’s meeting for anyone interested in coordinating a group that could act as a clearinghouse for aid and donations. About 21 people attended.

“I’m very concerned that we have a plan,” Chairman Al Worden said. “I did not want this community to wait until we had a problem.”

But a plan without coordination won’t necessarily work, Town Manager James Ricker said. “During the Ice Storm [of 1998], we set up a shelter and nobody came. How do we reach those people that need this help?”

Phil Brown, who runs the Newport Food Bank and is the local contact for the Salvation Army, said coordination and communication will be vital. “Last year, in a three-month period, our clients increased by 25 percent,” Brown said.

“We’re all talking here about our community, but the food bank serves five towns. It can’t be just us. We need to get in touch with other towns and coordinate efforts,” he said.

Brown and others said that the key to any effort’s success will be developing a system that can cut through red tape to deliver instant assistance while avoiding duplication.

He said that although most people truly need assistance when they ask, the system does have abusers.

“Last year we had one family that signed up in seven different places because they wanted Christmas presents,” Brown said. “Compare that with people coming in with glass jugs, looking for just enough kerosene to fill their stove for one night.”

Brown said that one point of the service could be to identify and screen applicants and assign volunteers as needed. He suggested the aid recipients could become volunteers themselves, providing help with winterizing homes.

A local pastor, Tony Brown, said his church keeps a database of parishioners’ skills and assets that can be tapped when there is a need.

Fire Chief Fred Hickey said his firefighters and EMTs will be able to observe which families are in trouble but need one forum where they can bring those concerns.

By having one entity, Phil Brown said, the plan can serve as many people as possible and not the same few over and over again.

Those attending volunteered to serve on a committee which Ricker said he will coordinate. No date was set for a follow-up meeting.

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