18,000 customers in Boulder, Jefferson counties could preemptively lose power amid high winds, fire danger
Thousands of customers in Boulder and Jefferson counties could lose power Saturday, as Xcel Energy plans for a public safety power shutoff amid high winds and fire danger.
About 18,000 customers could have their power shut off Saturday around 2 p.m., according to Xcel. The utility initially said 43,000 customers could be impacted, but in a Friday afternoon release, said that they had reduced the number that could be affected. The release did not say why they reduced the number.
Areas of the Boulder County foothills, the Hill neighborhood in Boulder and the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus fall within the possible public safety shutoff zone, according to the Xcel outage map. Some of Gunbarrel and other areas east of Colorado 119, also appear to be included. The Pearl Street Mall and the majority of north and south Boulder do not appear to be in the shutoff zone.
In Jefferson County, areas near Colorado 93 south of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and north of Interstate 70 appear to be in the possible shutoff zone.
Those who use medical equipment that requires electricity should begin preparing for potential outages, the utility said in a social media post Friday.
High winds could also cause unplanned outages throughout the weekend. It may take several hours or several days for power to be restored, as crews must patrol the entire power line before re-energizing the line, the utility said. Crews will begin work once high winds and fire risks have ended. It is likely outages will continue into Sunday, Xcel said.
About 1,441 customers in the Boulder County foothills remained without power as of 4:45 p.m. Friday, after over 5,000 in the county lost power amid high winds on Thursday.
A red flag warning is in effect from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Low relative humidity and wind are the critical fire weather conditions that prompted the warning, according to NWS.
On Saturday, winds are forecast to persist between 20 and 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph, and the relative humidity could reach as low as 10%, according to NWS.
