Xcel Energy to cut power to 55K people along Colorado's front range amid wildfire risk on Saturday

Due to the potential of hurricane-force winds and the resulting risk of wildfires along Colorado's front range on Saturday, Xcel Energy says it plans to "de-energize" power lines across the western side of the Denver metro area up through Larimer County.

The energy giant is set to start cutting power in its lines around 3 p.m. Saturday and continue through Sunday. It says an estimated 55,000 customers may be impacted in Boulder County, small sections of Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Douglas and Broomfield Counties, and the West Denver Metro area along the foothills.

"De-energizing is a last resort measure to reduce the risk of a wildfire and ensure public safety," the company said in a statement Saturday morning. "If a line is proactively de-energized, we will not turn the power back on until the high fire risk has passed, conditions are safe and crews have visually inspected the line. Outage restoration times will also depend on damages from the storm."

As of about 2:30 p.m., Xcel's outage map showed 52 outages in the metro area impacting approximately 3.500 customers. By 3:30 p.m. -- a half-hour after the company said preventative outages would start -- the number of outages had doubled and the number of customers impacted by outages was 43,000.

The company says it's trying to reach out to customers to alert them of the outages they can expect and is urging people, especially those with certain medical equipment that relies on electricity, to prepare accordingly. It's also working to change automatic reset settings in some of its powerlines so as not to try to reset amid an outage caused by a falling tree branch or other debris.

In a news conference Saturday afternoon, Robert Kanney, president of Xcel Colorado, said Xcel was working to publish maps that would offer specific locations that will experience outages, but said almost the entirety of Boulder can expect a full outage starting at 3 p.m.

Kanney said this is the first time the company has done this in Colorado, but it has been done in other states where Xcel operates.

A CBS News Colorado reporter who lives in Boulder said a voicemail from Xcel indicated their power would be out from 3 p.m. Saturday through 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Police and fire rescue agencies are asking people to only call 911 for emergencies.

"We're very concerned about it," Gilpin County Sheriff Kevin Armstrong said.

He says ambulance crews have been notified and are prepared to deliver oxygen bottles.

A community alert -- similar to a reverse 911 -- has been sent out to county residents "so people can actually plan for this outage," Armstrong said. "We continue to monitor and we're hoping to avoid the emergency situations."

Colorado State University's Police and Safety Department said that power to CSU's Foothills Campus in Fort Collins will be shut off Saturday afternoon and could be out for up to 24 hours.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said the outages will affect the Sterling Ranch community. If traffic lights are out, they should be treated as a four-way stop.

South Metro Fire Rescue, which covers a large swath of Douglas County and the southern portion of the metro area, offered safety recommendations on Facebook.

• Oxygen-dependent people should be prepared with enough spare bottles to last through Sunday or consider staying with family, friends or in a hotel outside of the planned outage area. SMFR is only equipped to provide oxygen for medical emergencies and your regular provider should be contacted for non-emergent needs. 
• Smoke alarms may start intermittently chirping because their backup batteries are low. If this happens, the batteries should be replaced.
• Please do not use a gas stove to heat your home and do not use outdoor stoves indoors for heating or cooking. If using a generator, keep it outside in a well-ventilated area away from windows.

Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist at the University of Colorado who co-authored a study in the scientific journal Earth's Future, said preventative outages lack the comprehensive solutions needed to prevent wildfires; the majority of which are caused by other sources.

"We've got a lot of homes in harm's way. We have a lot of people around beautiful open space that's really flammable. So I can understand the energy company's stand on this. But I don't think that's a long-term solution. We can't just keep turning off the power," she told CBS News Colorado on Saturday. "Power lines do become a major source of ignitions in windstorms. There are millions of dollars at stake if lines go down."

There are three elements to wildfire, Balch continued; climate, fuels, and ignition source. Wind on top of that complicates matters.  

And due to climate change, she says "we're making it more conducive to wildfire."

"All of Colorado ecosystems are flammable," she said. "It's not just the power company that has to deal with this. It's a societal challenge."

Xcel is also urging people to report outages and monitor the company for updates on this. They can do so through Xcel's mobile apps, on its website, by texting OUT to 98936 to report an outage, or texting STAT to the same number to check the status of a power outage, or by calling 1-800-895-1999.

You can also check the current status of outages on Xcel's website.

In an ongoing lawsuit against Xcel Energy, plaintiffs allege that the impact of the Marshall Fire -- the most destructive wildfire in Colorado's history -- was at least partially the fault of the company. An investigation from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office says an initial fire was started and thought to be extinguished, but a second fire was sparked by an Xcel power line, which the company disputes.

The Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,100 homes and buildings and killed thousands of animals, including pets, after the fire started near Louisville and Superior at the end of December 2021.

Colorado has the second highest risk of wildfires of any state -- after California -- according to a 2023 study by the geospatial mapping and intelligence firm Esri, with more than 300,000 homes here at risk.

While it wasn't immediately clear if Xcel has ever performed preventative outages at this scale to prevent wildfires, it's been done in California for years. Some experts say they work, but might go beyond what's needed.

"Power shutdowns, that's pretty dramatic. It's very effective. It's overkill," Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the University of Alberta in Canada, told CBS News San Francisco in 2019. "It's a trend."

The Evergreen area is at the highest risk in the Rocky Mountain region, according to a separate study in 2022 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Colorado Springs ranked second, Larkspur ranked third and the Boulder area was fourth.