Xcel Energy pulled back on plans to cut power to more than 7,000 customers in southern Colorado on Wednesday, after wind speeds were lower than expected.
issued red flag warnings Wednesday for most of Colorado, including the Front Range, Eastern Plains and southern state — where Xcel said it would implement a at noon.
The utility noted at 4:30 p.m. on its website that the wind speeds were not as high as expected, so a preemptive shut-off was not needed.
The red flag warnings, which started at 10 a.m. and will remain in effect until midnight, call for wind gusts of up to 60 mph and humidity as low as 5%, according to the weather service.
“Extreme fire danger is expected,” stated a for the San Luis Valley area, which was impacted by Xcel’s outages. “Fires will uncontrollably spread and be very destructive.”
The San Luis Valley is also experiencing extreme to exceptional drought, .
Xcel’s preemptive power outages would have affected roughly 7,100 customers in Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla and Rio Grande counties, according to the utility.
The utility thanked customers for their patience and recognized some may have been disrupted by ultimately unnecessary preparations for a preemptive shut-off.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
