Colorado foothills community considers whether power shutoff was needed

Thursday night, the power was back on to many of the Jefferson County homes in the foothills, where power was cut off on Wednesday. But another outage was potentially coming early Friday as winds threaten to ramp up again. Many people were out 24 hours or more, leading to melting food and angst.

"It absolutely is a period of adjustment. This is unique for our community and especially knowing that the power may be off for days," said Evergreen Fire Rescue assistant chief Stacee Martin.

In this area of Colorado, dry weather creates a nervousness about the potential of wildfire. Few failed to understand the need to act to prevent potential fires, but after Xcel Energy's planned outages, some wondered about the timing of turning the power off and turning it back on.

"I've lived up here for 30 years, and I get it," says Jule Attebery, whose power was still out Thursday afternoon after being shut off Wednesday. "I'm suspicious that they're covering their behinds," she said of Xcel Energy, which settled lawsuits earlier in the year over the Marshall Fire in 2021 for $640 million.

"It was really windy a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, why weren't they turning off the power then?" said Evergreen resident Marilyn Pearson.

Evergreen and Conifer both had downed lines and trees on lines, which is not unusual during high wind events. Gusts had reached 61 mph. The dryness was listed as a worry for Xcel as it announced the planned outages. Late Wednesday night, there was a light coating of snow in many areas as the winds decreased. Xcel said it needed to inspect lines before re-energizing them, and drones and helicopters could not fly remote sections until after daybreak Thursday. But late afternoon messages going out from Xcel told some residents to expect power to be out until Sunday. The winds by that point were calm.

"People are getting ready for the holidays. You've got food in your freezer and fridge, and everything's melting and going bad," said Kyle Robertson, whose home was still without power. "There's no heat. Like we have electric baseboards. Our gas fireplace has to be turned on with electricity, so, yeah, it's not like really livable conditions."

Still others felt they could continue to bear the outages. Rene' Nail joked about how moldy clothes that had been in the washing machine might be on Sunday after the cycle stopped when power was shut down on Wednesday. But she had been moved by watching a report about wildfires in California, saying she was concerned about homes and firefighters.

"You want to keep them safe. So if I have to not have power for four days, I'm totally fine with that."

The period of adjustment may take a while. Some people were seeking generators, thinking about future outages. "We're kind of used to it when it comes to snowstorms. A windstorm's a little different. But we'll get there," said Evergreen Fire Rescue's Martin. She noted that with another outage likely ahead, the theme of Evergreen Strong should remain. Neighbors should check on neighbors. 

"If you know of an elderly neighbor that may or may not have an extended battery pack on their cell phone, can you please check on them?"