Major XCel Power Outage Last Night

Major power outage reported from Evergreen to Bailey. IREA's website is currently down.

Last night's outage for XCel customers:


Current XCel Power Outage Map:


www.outagemap-xcelenergy.com/outagemap/

Hearing that it is still out in Morrison, Conifer Mountain, and Conifer Meadows. Back on in Kings Valley, Hilldale Pines, Harris Park, Bailey, and Shawnee.

From Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District :

ICFPD responded on a main power transmission line down last night around 11pm. The power pole was snapped in half and many lines down. This line is one of the main feeders to Aspen Park and Conifer area, many residents may be out of power this morning. The downed pole is also in a hard to get to location. Electric crews from both Xcel and IREA responded to work the problem, and service will be restored as soon as possible.

Power knocked out to thousands in foothills, mountains
Joshua Hubbard, KUSA
August 3, 2015

KUSA - Around 6,000 Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) customers are without power from late Sunday night into Monday morning.

There's no estimated time of recovery, and the outage will likely extend well into the morning, according to a news release from IREA.

Per ‏@IREAColorado 25 minutes ago
Power Outage between Tiny Town and Conifer due to outage on Xcel's Energy Transmission line. Outage could last until Tuesday PM or Wed AM.

Nearly 5,000 from Tiny Town to Conifer could be without power until Wednesday
by Chuck Hickey
August 3, 2015

CONIFER, Colo. — Nearly 5,000 customers with the Intermountain Rural Electric Association could be without power until Wednesday morning, a spokesman said Monday.

An Xcel Energy transmission line broke late Sunday night, causing the outage to about 4,800 customers between Tiny Town and Conifer, IREA spokesman Josh Liss said.

Because the line is in a remote, rugged area that is difficult for crews to reach, there is no estimate for when power will be restored.

IREA said it will send generators to the affected areas and mobile charging stations so people can charge their phones.

The cause of the break is under investigation.

IREA power outage in foothills could last until Wednesday
Fire destroyed power pole, Xcel says
TheDenverChannel.com Team
8:28 AM, Aug 3, 2015

An Xcel Energy transmission line went down late Sunday night, but it is located in a very remote area along a hillside that is very difficult to get to, an IREA spokesman said. That is why Xcel is telling IREA it could be as late as Wednesday before they can get the line repaired.

This power line runs along Highway 285 from the C-470 area to a substation near Tiny Town. This is an XCEL line that services Xcel and IREA customers in the Tiny Town, Bailey and Morrison areas.

Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said Xcel lost at least one tower, or some type of wooden structure, to a fire. In order to get power restored, crews will have to extract the damaged pole, drop in a new pole and then restring -- but because of the location, this is fairly challenging, Stutz said.

IREA spokesman Mike Kopp said IREA rerouted some lines so the 6,000 IREA customers who were initially without power early Monday was reduced to about 4,600 customers. However, those 4,600 should be prepared to not have power for several days.

Outage Update - 5:55pm/August 3

IREA and Xcel Energy are working as quickly as possible to repair the damage caused by the outage. Restoration work began at daybreak with the moving in of crews from both Xcel Energy and IREA (along with local enforcement officials), and equipment to the area for repairs. At midday, the downed wires and the remainder of the damaged, 75-foot pole had been cleared; the site is secure. A new 75-foot pole and related hardware have been brought to the site.

Xcel Energy estimates that it will be able to restore power to its transmission line by mid-afternoon Tuesday. This effort will require several steps, including the clearing of brush in the area; digging for and setting of the new transmission pole; attaching hardware on the new pole; stringing of new conductor from both directions; and energizing the transmission line.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

IREA's Conifer area Customers Without Power Due to Xcel Transmission Outage:

There is a power outage between the Tiny Town and Conifer areas due to a broken Xcel Energy Transmission line structure. The Xcel Energy Transmission line provides power to IREA's grid in that vicinity. The cause of the outage is under investigation. The outage could possibly last until Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. Crews have been on site since last night and continue to work to restore power. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers.

Please see map listed below for affected outage area: