As gas lines reportedly get shorter, so are the emotional fuses of storm-battered New Yorkers.
Chaos nearly erupted this morning at a Hess station in Queens Village as motorists waited hours — in their cars and on foot — for gas to fuel their cars or generators.
Cops, trying to keep order, threatened to close down the station after customers screamed at officers who were allowing first responders cut into hours-long lines.
The police-sanctioned line cutters showed their official IDs but were almost always in unmarked cars and not in uniform. Civilian customers complained that cops were clearly allowing colleagues, not on the job, to fuel up for personal use.
“This is more than unfair!” said Islip resident Mel Gibbs, 50, in town helping a Queens friend.
“It’s a systematic problem. Everyone wants to go for theirs and since we need to obey the law, the law is going to make sure they’re taken care of first!”
Fuel is a life-or-death issue for Frini Charalabidisi, 50, who didn’t mind waiting on line at that same Hess station for a relatively hassle-free two hours today.
She had to fill up three canisters to keep generators — and her dad’s respirator — running.
“We need the gas for his oxygen and sleep apnea machine. Without the sleep apnea machine his heart could stop,” she said.
“This is my job now, I’ve been coming here for a week. I waited 10 hours the other day but I can’t complain because some people have it far worse.
“The generator keeps his machines running, the refrigerator and a small space heater that we only have turned on for a couple of hours. We’ve been barbecuing everyday so the food won’t spoil. But right now, it’s more important for my father to breathe than to eat.”
Lines have been long and tense since Hurricane Sandy blew through town a week ago tonight.
Officials warned desperate drivers it will still be several days before supplies get back to normal.
About half of the city’s 242 gas stations had lines that extended for blocks yesterday, with motorists trying to fuel their cars and people trying to fill plastic gas canisters.
At the Hess station on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, there were cars in a 10-block line from 30th to 39th streets, and a second block-long line for emergency vehicles.
And in a third line, 80 people lined up about 100-feet long to pump fuel into jugs.
“We’re not 100 percent sure when the system will be up and running where you won’t feel any effect whatsoever,” Gov. Cuomo said yesterday.
He urged New Yorkers not to drive if they didn’t need to.
“Now is not the time to be hoarding fuel. This just causes an increased demand for gas,” he said.
There “are continuing issues with the fuel delivery and distribution system,” Cuomo said, adding it’s a “short-term” problem because fuel deliveries are resuming.
Still, two New Jersey refineries and 10 regional petroleum terminals remain off-line, according to the Department of Energy.
The demand was so desperate that some opportunists on Craigslist offered a gallon of fuel for $20 — and some gas stations imposed limits on how much customers could buy.
“We waited for two hours, and we were almost at the front of the line when they cut it off,” said Miguel Mejia, at the Hess station in Sunset Park.
Some motorists had more luck.
“They ran out before we could fill up the tank, so we only got $21 worth, but that will last awhile,” said Jeremy Ranieri. “The guy before me only got 45 cents before it shut off on him.”
He and fiancée Amber Fox bought cookies for the cops and National Guardsmen maintaining order and fueling up emergency vehicles.
In New Jersey — where gas is being rationed by license-plate numbers — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told residents that as electricity comes online, more fuel will be available.
“A lot of power has been restored. A lot remains to be restored,” Napolitano said.
Additional reporting by Matt McNulty, Amy Stretten, Chuck Bennett and David K. Li