Wind downed tree caused power outage

I am a member of a community HOA in Wheat Ridge. The entire condo property, 64 residences, was without power for 40 hours. On Saturday, April 6, at about 10:30 pm, high winds felled a pine tree in a backyard on the residential block adjacent to ours, apparently causing the outage that impacted our community. I later learned that the fallen tree caused a live power wire to disconnect from a home and give off sparks as it contacted the ground in the backyard. The fire department was called and advised the residents of that home to spend the night in a hotel. The downed line was located by XCEL crews Sunday evening and a tree removal contractor was onsite by 9:30 am, Monday, April 8. The tree was cut away from the power line and XCEL crews restored power to the two-block area affected by the outage by 1:15 pm.

Recommendation:

1.) Advise homeowners to inspect trees adjacent to utility easements and remove branches or entire trees that impinge on utility lines. Otherwise, XCEL should conduct its own utility easement inspections.

2.) Some wooden utility poles were damaged by the windstorm. XCEL should conduct a thorough inspection of wooden utility poles, pole-mounted transformers and other attached equipment for storm-related damage.