GILPIN COUNTY — Gilpin County residents experienced firsthand the new policy plan of power providers called PSPS (Public Safety Power Shutoff) to deliberately shut down power lines during extreme weather events.

The objective of these planned shutdowns is to keep the providers’ equipment from sparking a calamitous wildfire during an extreme weather event.

Both of the electrical energy providers in Gilpin County (Xcel and United Power) executed planned outages during the extreme wind events starting December 16, 2025, when wind gusts along the Front Range topped 90 mph. Electrical power to homes and businesses was cut for periods from a few hours to multiple days.

Meteorologists have characterized the cause of the wind as a pressure imbalance between a high-pressure zone west of the Continental Divide and a low-pressure zone east of the Continental Divide.

The air moving toward the low-pressure area accelerates going down the eastern side of the mountains in what is called a downslope wave. As the air descends, it warms and dries the land, a situation known as the adiabatic warming process.

Warmer and drier land increases the potential for uncontrolled wildfires in a chaotic environment.

The impetus for these policy changes to implement planned power shutoffs ahead of extreme weather events comes from past tragic failures. The Camp Fire in 2018 that destroyed the entire town of Paradise California was started by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PGE) power lines that failed during high winds.

The Camp Fire killed 85 individuals, burned more than 18,000 structures, displaced more than 50,000 people, destroyed 153,336 acres of forest, and cost over $100 billion. PGE was held liable for those losses.

The Boulder Sheriff’s Office’s final investigative report on the 2021 Marshall Fire assigned partial blame on an Xcel power line that failed in high winds and started a wildfire. The Marshall Fire killed two individuals, burned 1,084 structures and cost over $2 billion.

The new policy seeks to avoid fighting an uncontrolled wildfire in high winds and dry conditions by cutting the power to any location where a falling tree could break a line and start a fire.

Xcel has been following this new PSPS policy for several years. United Power has also started implementing PSPS operations and has a partnership with Xcel where, when Xcel turns off the power for their customers, it will also in some cases be turning off the power to United Power customers.

Gilpin residents learned with these planned shutoffs during the December 16-18 windstorm to stockpile essential supplies like water and batteries. Because of the adiabatic warming effect, homes didn’t get cold enough to break water pipes. Fireplaces and wood stoves were adequate for keeping the house warm and houseplants alive.

The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office initiated the establishment of a Red Cross shelter at the Gilpin RE-1 school. The school is certified to be a Red Cross shelter because it has a diesel generator that is big enough to provide electrical power to the entire school. The north door and upper atrium were used for the shelter.

The shelter opened on Thursday, December 18, and was continuously manned by two Red Cross volunteers throughout the weekend. The volunteers came from across the Front Range chapters and are trained in helping people impacted by extreme events.

One of the new features for today’s Red Cross shelter is the ability to recharge electronic devices like cellphones, tablets, and watches. People can stay in dark houses if they can call out to friends or family and let them know that they are all right. The shelter also offers overnight accommodation for residents who can’t stay in a house with no power.

Other services include snacks, showers, and water. Residents were able to bring in water containers to fill. There was tap water from the janitor’s closet for filling toilets, or filtered water from the water fountain for drinking and cooking.

After enduring days of the worst of the windstorm, residents were faced with uncertainty as to when the energy providers would turn the power back on. Both Xcel and United Power sent text messages stressing that power could only be turned back on after all the lines were inspected and any lines that had been knocked down by a falling tree were repaired.

There were multiple instances where one text message or email from Xcel predicting a restoration was followed a short time later by another text or email with a different restoration prediction.

Complicating the restoration of power were unplanned outages. Timberline Fire Protection District dispatched fire crews multiple times on Friday, December 19, to deal with small wildfires caused from unplanned ignitions.

By the weekend, electrical power had been restored for most of unincorporated Gilpin County, but restoration was spotty, with some areas getting power sooner than others. The shelter was closed at noon on Sunday as the Sheriff's Department stated that "the majority of power for Gilpin County has been restored."

Lessons learned after direct experience with these PSPS situations is to stockpile supplies like water for drinking, batteries for headlamps, candles, and food that doesn’t need refrigeration.

Home generators are an option for individual homes where continuous electricity is important for people who are on oxygen or use a CPAP device for sleeping.

This warm, dry, and windy condition might be rare event or it might be the new normal, but residents should expect and prepare for PSPS events in the future.

Planned shutoffs are policy going forward, and customers should sign up for notifications from these providers so they will know when a PSPS is coming.

The website for Xcel is co.my.xcelenergy.com. The website for United Power is unitedpower.com. There are links on the home page to their outage maps and outage statuses.