FORT KENT (AP) – Maine Public Service Co. put utility crews on standby and emergency management officials deployed cots for temporary shelters as northern Aroostook County prepared for a prolonged storm with freezing rain and ice.

The freezing rain began Thursday and was expected to coat roads, trees and buildings with up to three-quarters of an inch of ice, raising the possibility of power outages, officials said.

The Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency deployed 100 cots to be used if needed for temporary shelters, said Director Vern Ouellette. The cots were stored at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, he said.

Officials were keeping watch through the night. Maine Public Service Co., meanwhile, had 32 line workers and 15 bucket trucks ready to go in the event of power outages. The utility also contacted its counterparts in Bangor and New Brunswick for assistance if needed.

“The general consensus on our end is we’re ready to go if something develops,” said spokeswoman Virginia Joles.

In Augusta, the Maine Emergency Management Agency was monitoring the situation, and Gov. John Baldacci was briefed late Thursday morning by utility, weather and emergency officials at the MEMA headquarters.

Aroostook County was largely spared from the 1998 ice storm that swept across much of the rest of Maine. At the height of the disaster more than 700,000 residents – more than half of the state’s population – lacked electricity.

The parts of Aroostook County that faced the greatest potential for ice accumulations in this storm were the same places that were pounded earlier in the week with snow.

Fort Kent and St. Francis each received 39 inches of snow. Clayton Lake had 38 inches, Madawaska 37 inches and Caribou almost 32 inches.

Before the storm ends today, forecasters said, colder air was expected to turn the freezing rain into snow, with accumulations of another 3 to 5 inches of snow.

AP-ES-12-29-05 1858EST