Xcel Energy confirms power shutoffs in Northern Colorado for extreme fire risk

Xcel Energy confirmed plans to shut off power in Northern Colorado this week due to extreme fire risk. A Public Safety Power Shutoff will happen on Friday, Jan. 16, according to Xcel officials. 

School districts in Northern Colorado began announcing closures on Thursday afternoon due to the planned power outages. Weld RE-4 School District's Ridgeline Middle School, Cache la Poudre Elementary School, Cache la Poudre Middle School, Timnath Elementary School and Timnath Middle-High School will be closed on Friday.

Weld RE-4 School District said after school activities, practices, events and facility rentals are also canceled on Friday. With the exception of the TMHS girls basketball team's away game, athletics and activities, including the YES concert and AlphaBEST, for the affected schools with the Poudre School District are also canceled.

Thompson School District says it has no schools that will be affected and has no plans to close tomorrow.

The utility company is encouraging customers to prepare for the outages.

First Alert Weather Meteorologists have called for First Alert Weather Days for Thursday and Friday due to Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches that could result in extreme fire danger combined with Colorado's already dry conditions and lack of snowpack. 

According to Xcel, the utility will shut off power around 8 a.m. Friday, impacting about 9,000 customers in portions of Larimer and Weld counties. That includes parts of Fort Collins and nearby communities. Xcel said weather conditions are expected to start improving around 4 p.m. Friday. 

Xcel said that, as with the planned power shutoffs that occurred last month, power restoration efforts will begin after high winds and elevated fire risks have ended. Xcel said it may take "several hours to several days for customers' power to be restored because a crew must patrol the entire power line to ensure it's safe to turn service back on before it can be re-energized."

Xcel said it will continue to reach out to potentially affected customers and will update customers about outage and restoration information. Customers can look up their address online to find out whether they may be subject to a planned outage.