A downed power line in Sunshine Canyon in the mountains west of Boulder in December posed an electrocution risk to firefighters and bystanders after Xcel Energy re-energized it without repairing it, despite being notified of the break the day before.

Then, local officials added, it posed a wildfire risk by starting a small grass fire.

The line had gone down when Xcel Energy deliberately cut power to a wide swath of Front Range communities, citing extreme wildfire weather to prevent equipment from sparking a blaze that could become a destructive or even deadly conflagration.

“If the winds hadn’t calmed, that fire could have jumped the road,” Sunshine Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schmitt said. “Otherwise, that fire would’ve jumped the road and would’ve pushed up towards Pinebrook Hills.”

“A line should never, ever be energized when it’s been reported as damaged,” Schmitt told The Denver Gazette.

A Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS, is a deliberate last-resort tool that is now being increasingly deployed along the Front Range, which perennially has high wind gusts.

The approach has been sanctioned by Colorado’s energy regulators, and power companies and their allies have argued that they are a necessary strategy, given dry conditions and high winds, which could turn a spark into a deadly event.

Critics have countered that utilities should instead focus on making their infrastructure resilient to extreme weather, instead of turning off people’s power, with its grave repercussions for residents and businesses.

At a recent legislative hearing, Xcel Energy Colorado President Robert Kenney said that, when extreme winds, low humidity and bone-dry fuels align, his utility must cut power to prevent equipment from sparking a fire that could quickly blow up into a major wildfire.

After the National Weather Service issued Colorado’s first “particularly dangerous situation” red-flag warning for the Front Range, Xcel Energy instituted two Public Safety Power Shutoffs on Dec. 17 and again on Dec. 19. The predicted winds mirrored those that preceded the deadly 2018 Camp Fire in California, which burned more than 153,000 acres and killed 85 people.

Restoration took days because crews must physically inspect every mile of line before re-energizing — a mandatory safety step that prevents the ignitions a PSPS is meant to avoid.

Schmitt, the fire chief, said his fire department has hardened its own infrastructure with reinforced buildings and backup generators to withstand the extraordinary winds in the canyon. He urged the power company to do similar upgrades by installing insulated wire to reduce sparking and higher-rated poles.

“Ironically, all or most of the poles in our district have been replaced in the last couple years,” Schmitt added. “They’re new, and even the new ones are not rated for more than 90 miles per hour.”

“We had what we think were close to 125 miles per hour winds,” said Schmitt.

In an interview with The Denver Gazette, he added that two days later, a downed powerline in Four Mile Canyon was also improperly reenergized, starting a larger fire. Fortunately, said Schmitt, it was in the evening and there were firefighters close by. The fire was stopped only five feet from a garage. Schmitt said if the garage had caught on fire, the community might have lost six homes in a densely vegetated canyon.

Communications in the mountainous rural area are unreliable, with cell service often not available. After backup batteries in the digital phone system that depends on electric power were exhausted, some residents had no way to communicate with the outside world, said Schmitt.

Public Safety Power Shutoffs are a last-resort measure, said Xcel Energy officials.

Kenney, the Xcel executive, defended his company’s actions during a legislative hearing in January.

“We made the right operational decision for public safety,” Kenney told lawmakers. “These were the exact same kinds of winds seen just prior to the Eaton and Palisades fires in Southern California.”

He acknowledged the hardship the decision brings, adding the company has expanded support for vulnerable customers, including rebates for battery backups and partnerships with the American Red Cross to open comfort centers during outages.

Company officials have said it is making upgrades to reduce the scope and duration of future shutoffs. Kenney said the company will install additional sectionalization devices across its system by the end of 2027, allowing crews to de-energize only small segments rather than large areas.

“We’re able to be more surgical in which parts of our system we de-energize,” Kenney said. “This will also ensure that our electric system will be broken into smaller segments.”

He said the ultimate goal is clear — make any future shutoffs smaller, shorter and less frequent while protecting public safety, adding the company is making investments to achieve that objective.

The practice of deliberately shutting off power was first used in California after the 2018 Camp fire, when PG&E began using the strategy to prevent equipment from sparking blazes during Santa Ana winds. The fire had killed 85 people.

Boulder has long been one of the windiest cities in America, where powerful Chinook winds roar down the Front Range canyons and routinely exceed 100 mph. Since 1967, at least 16 documented windstorms have produced higher gusts, including a 147-mph record at the National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesa Lab in 1971 and a 137-mph blast in January 1982 that damaged 40% of the city’s buildings and cost roughly $10 million.

In Colorado, Xcel Energy adopted a PSPS policy after the 115 mph wind-driven Marshall fire in December 2021, which tore through more than 1,000 homes and businesses. Xcel denied that its power line started the fire, but paid $640 million in compensation to victims without admitting guilt.

Those conditions arrived again on Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, 2025. Winds predicted to exceed 100 mph along the Front Range forced Xcel Energy to de-energize lines, rather than risk igniting a wildfire. During the windstorm, National Weather Service instruments hit 113 mph, while firefighters in Sunshine Canyon measured winds they estimated at 125 mph.

After the December events along the Front Range, a Boulder chamber survey of nearly 300 companies found average losses of about $25,000 per business. Nine companies reported hits exceeding $100,000. Roughly 20,000 workers were idled, half unable to work. The Golden Chamber of Commerce tallied nearly $2 million in damages among just 100 businesses.

Local businesses felt the pain acutely.

Brandon Bortles, owner of Nosu Ramen and Abejas Bistro in Golden, lost nearly $55,000 between the two restaurants over five days of outages. Insurance covered only about $14,000 for one location because it was not on Xcel’s initial PSPS map. The Golden chamber provided $3,000, which Bortles called “a drop in the bucket.”

“Honestly, I’m looking at exit plans,” Bortles said. “I don’t think restaurants are very sustainable in Colorado anymore, especially in the foothills.”

Tyler Butler, general manager of Evergreen Bread Lounge, said his restaurant lost $40,000 in food products and labor. The restaurant cannot use a generator in high winds, especially because of its second-floor location.

Bortles summed up the frustration this way: “It’s like living in a third-world country. We’re all behind the eight ball. I want to know: Are we going to do this 10 times a year? What are we going to do in the future? Just shut down the town every day?”

Denver Gazette reporter Sage Kelley contributed to this story.