Was it necessary and how was the decision made?

Our neighborhood's power in the Gunbarrel area northeast of Boulder was preemptively shutdown from 3:15pm Saturday 4/6 until 5:56pm Sunday 4/7.

I have misgivings that the preemptive shutdowns were necessary or worth the attendant costs. There were several major snowfalls; and there was rain the morning of Xcel’s preemptive power shutdowns on Saturday. According to the Boulder County Sheriff Department’s Fire Management Officer, Seth McKinney, moisture levels this spring are much higher than they were leading up to the Marshall fire on December 30, 2021, when there had been many weeks of virtually no rainfall. Quoting from the Boulder Reporting Laboratory’s story:

“The biggest message I would convey is that these are not the same conditions we saw leading up to the Marshall Fire,” McKinney said. “Yes, we have very high winds forecast, but our fuels are in a better state: no drought conditions, green-up is just starting. … High winds will of course be a concern if there is a start, but I think we are in a much better position today than before.”

The preemptive outages turned off traffic signals at numerous major intersections around the Boulder area, making driving risky since a small but dangerous number of motorists don’t seem to realize an inoperative traffic signal is the same as a stop sign, not an invitation to barrel through the intersection at high speed (Note to Boulder PD and Sheriff’s office). There were other risks to city and county residents from the shutdowns – for example, for people using electrically operated medical equipment, for business owners who lost revenue, and from the cost food spoilage and risk of contamination.

Did Xcel perform appropriate environmental and risk analysis of the situation before Robert Kenney, their president for Colorado operations, declared the preemptive shutdowns? Or was Xcel’s legal department, still smarting over potential massive liability from the Marshall fire of two years ago, allowed to make the decision unilaterally and irrespective of the other risks and costs.

Of course, safety is paramount and we don't want anybody to be hurt or lose property. And as a non-expert, I concede it's possible Xcel made the right call in cutting power with the approach of the weekend’s severe downslope wind event. Their commitment to safety is not in question. However, as a citizen and ratepayer, I question whether Xcel’s decision to preemptively cut power was evidence-based and done with a full assessment of the consequences and with appropriate consultation and input from local safety officials, community leaders and other stakeholders.

We also need answers about the state of Xcel’s distribution system and the need for fire-safety shutdowns in the first place.