Tempers flare due to fuel crisis

But five days after the storm ravaged the area,people who were coping with a variety of problems were becoming exasperated.

In New Jersey,drivers waited in lines that ran hundreds of vehicles deep,requiring state troopers and local police officers to protect against exploding tempers. Some ran out of gas waiting.

At stations that were open,nerves frayed. Fights broke out Thursday at the blocklong Hess station on 10th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan,forcing the Police Department to send three officers to keep the peace,a police official said.

On Friday,a St Albans man was arrested after he pointed a pistol at a motorist who complained when he tried to cut a line at a Queens gas station.