Mackenzie County in northern Alberta is at the mercy of winter after extreme cold froze natural gas wells near High Level, Alta., on Friday.

The deep freeze triggered system outages, as pressure plummeted along the natural gas grid that supplies the county of more than 11,000 people.

"We've got our fingers and legs and everything else crossed that those wells start thawing out," the county's chief administrative officer, Lenard Racher, told CBC News on Saturday.

"The lines are depleted so damn bad that it will take a while to build that pressure back up again."

Mackenzie County declared a state of emergency at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. By Saturday afternoon, four natural gas trucks were feeding into the local gas pipeline system in an attempt to raise its pressure.

The state of emergency will hold until the wells thaw out and the system is restored, Racher said.

Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold weather warning for the county, which is forecast to last through the weekend.

People living in Mackenzie County were asked to minimise their natural gas usage after extreme cold caused a pressure drop that triggered a state of emergency. (Mackenzie County)

The trucks are a temporary fix to keep gas flowing to communities such as La Crête, Racher said.

"The long-term solution is we need — and we have identified this — a secondary pipe supply."

He's calling on the province to connect a second set of natural gas wells to Mackenzie County, which is the largest county by area in Alberta.

The wells that currently supply the county froze and caused similar complications last winter, Racher said.

The county didn't call a state of emergency at the time because temperatures quickly rebounded, he added.

"We have to look into the future," Racher said. "We can hit 50 below up here and I'd hate to see if that happened."

The county estimates linking its natural gas grid to another set of wells will cost $35 million.

A dual supply would maintain enough pressure for the county's growing population during extreme cold, Racher said.

"Hopefully the problems can help out with some kind of long-term funding," he said.

"Not a freebie, we'll pay for it, but we have to have a reasonable rate to not bankrupt our people either."

Electricity still running

Northern Lights Gas Co-op, which supplies the area, has asked residents to keep natural gas use to an absolute minimum until the state of emergency lifts.

Hospitals and saw mills have also been shifted to propane or diesel fuel to reduce the drain of an already-taxed natural gas system.

Electricity is still running, Racher said. People struggling to heat their home can spend the night at a warming centre in the hamlet of La Crête.

"Prepare your house, get blankets available and watch for open flames," Racher said, urging caution with wood-burning stoves that haven't recently been used or cleaned.

Anyone in Mackenzie County who needs help during an outage can call the local Emergency Services Hotline at 780-927-3718.