Thousands of households and businesses from Glenwood Springs to Silt spent hours without electricity Saturday.
Xcel Energy’s outage maps showed more than 3,000 customers impacted by power outages Saturday, concentrated around New Castle.
Residents report that the power cut out mid-afternoon, and restaurants and local attractions shuttered because of the outage. Power was restored to most customers by around 8:20 p.m., according to resident reports and Xcel’s outage maps.
Pamela Whittington lives in New Castle at the River Park Condos, and said she heard a “big boom and saw a big flash” around 3 p.m. When she went out to see what happened, she said she saw smoke and a small fire near the bike path. Neighbors brought multiple fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire before the local fire department arrived.
Whittington said she was told by Xcel Energy that it appeared something had hit the transmission line across the street from her condo, and that electrical workers had to check the whole transmission line before turning it back on.
Xcel did not immediately respond Saturday evening to Aspen Public Radio’s email and phone requests for additional information about the electrical outage.
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.
