Thank You to Xcel for Possibly Saving our Homes by Modeling California's "Public Safety Power Shutoffs"

Dawn B.

Boulder CO 80301

Re: Wind Storms and Xcel Power Outage

• A neighbor mentioned that in California, they have regular "public safety power shutoffs" after their terrible fires and loss of life and property.
• Xcel should be granted 100% immunity from all personal and property claims for acting proactively to help and protect us.
• My husband is from Scandinavia where most all power cables are buried like that we have implemented in newer developments like Superior.
• We also can ask homeowners to be much better prepared now for disasters and power outages and we can have better family fire/flood evacuation plans.

(From Nextdoor) My response to people being upset by our power outage- disaster, preparedness, and climate change-

I do think all of us could prepare better for power outages by having flashlights, blankets, batteries, food, backup water, hand crank radios, a backpack for evacs- I have a large backup battery charger to charge computer and cell phone. I realized we need a much better evac/ fire/flood plan. If people have ox/cpap/subpump they must have a generator. Someone suggested a solar/home battery kit, but for me that's cost prohibitive.

Of course it was much too fast that we only had three hours, but I'm utterly grateful that they may have saved thousands of homes and lives and pets, its called cost/benefit. I presume that with climate change, all of us could prepare better for disasters right now. I never felt like its our god given right to have power, heat, natural gas and be free of storms. Things will always happen, protecting our homes, families and safety and preparing is primarily our job. I grew up on the east coast on the beach where we would have hurricanes, and had to prepare the home, and be ready to evac. I will take this as a learning opportunity to be much better prepared, this will happen more often now, and imagine if there had been a fire, we may have had to evac. too!

https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies.html

Warmly, Dawn B.

• Gay St•1hI agree with Dawn....the effect of an actual wildfire would have been so so so much worse. The Daily Camera showed pics of some power poles at Nelson Road and Route 36 completely laying on the ground after the big winds. Longmont is due west of this, and substantial parts of the city could have been burned. In California where I have a second home, we have become accustomed to what they call Not fun for anyone but it beats the potential alternative. And there are some great ideas posted here for backup power for those who have critical needs. Climate change is causing us to be more resilient and prepared.

On Wed, Apr 10, 2024 at 8:29 AM Dawn Boiani <dawn.sandberg@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello!My response to people being upset by our power outage- disaster, preparedness, and climate change-
Thanks for all you do and hope to see you again soon!

I do think all of us could prepare better for power outages by having flashlights, blankets, batteries, food, backup water, hand crank radios, a backpack for evacs- I have a large backup battery charger to charge computer and cell phone. I realized we need a much better evac/ fire/flood plan. If people have ox/cpap/subpump they must have a generator. Someone suggested a solar/home battery kit, but for me that's cost prohibitive.Of course it was much too fast that we only had three hours, but I'm utterly grateful that they may have saved thousands of homes and lives and pets, its called cost/benefit. I presume that with climate change, all of us could prepare better for disasters right now. I never felt like its our god given right to have power, heat, natural gas and be free of storms. Things will always happen, protecting our homes, families and safety and preparing is primarily our job. I grew up on the east coast on the beach where we would have hurricanes, and had to prepare the home, and be ready to evac. I will take this as a learning opportunity to be much better prepared, this will happen more often now, and imagine if there had been a fire, we may have had to evac. too! https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies.html
Warmly, Dawn Boiani-Sandberg