Boulder County email to Xcel reveals power shutoff concerns [Video]

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Xcel Energy is only supposed to do a public safety power shutoff (PSPS) as a last resort.

When Xcel purposefully shut off power to more than 50,000 customers on April 6 as part of its first PSPS in Colorado, fire experts in Boulder County were not seeing conditions that called for the most extreme response.

“The conditions that we saw in the Marshall Fire were not the same conditions we saw at the beginning of April during that weekend wind event,” Seth McKinney, Boulder County’s fire management officer, said.

McKinney looks at three factors when determining fire risk.

Weather, topography and fuels – grass and weeds.

“Our fuels are really green,” McKinney said. “We felt that the fire danger wasn’t as high when considering those three factors instead of just looking at the wind.”

Boulder’s wastewater facility nearly overflowed sewage into Boulder Creek because …