DENVER – Black Hills Energy crew continued to shut down gas service for about 3,500 customers Monday afternoon after three of their sites were vandalized over the weekend, and Pitkin County officials said customers in the Aspen area were without heat and heat water will remain. until at least Tuesday morning.
One of the sites vandalized Saturday night was in the city of Aspen and the other two were in Pitkin County. Officials from the country and the city said on Monday afternoon that a criminal investigation is underway.
The vandalism was noticed on Saturday night after customers reported losing gas pressure, and as the investigation continued Sunday, Black Hills Energy found more problems with gas lines and began shutting down the meters for the customers involved.
Vance Crocker, vice president of operations at Black Hills Energy, said Monday afternoon that the crew hopes to have the entire system shut down early Monday night, and that the crew will then go to each of the customers’ locations to make sure it is cleared and can hopefully and safely be switched on again at 23:00 on Monday. Black Hills Energy plans to have about 100 employees from across the state to repair the outage.
‘We must first make sure that all gas meters are out, and then clean the system so that it is ready for the reintroduction of the natural gas supply. “Ultimately, our technicians will go door-to-door and re-ignite each customer’s gas appliances,” Crocker said in a statement.
Black Hills Energy officials will then begin lighting people’s pilot lights and other gas-powered appliances at 5 a.m. Tuesday, provincial officials said. They ask that no one should light their devices themselves. People can call 888-890-5554 with non-emergency questions.
The FBI has been called in to help with the investigation because it involves critical utility infrastructure, and the investigation is being led by Aspen police, according to Bill Linn, APD.
Linn said the vandalism took place around the same time on Saturday and that it involved vandalism of closed gas lines and that two of the three sites were open and not inside buildings.
One of the sites wrote the name of a group, Earth First, on it, but officials declined to say Monday whether the name had anything to do with the vandalism. He said he did not believe vandalism would qualify as terrorism.
“The word ‘attack’ has been thrown around a lot,” said Pitkin County Sheriff’s spokesman Joe DiSalvo. “It’s not the word I would use. It was a deliberate attack to disrupt gas services in and around Aspen. ”
Physical evidence, including footprints, was found from all three scenes, officials said.
Crimes being investigated include the threat of public utility, housebreaking and criminal tampering, Linn said.
A tip line for the investigation was set up at 970-924-0614. The province’s jail operates on electric heat, DiSalvo said.
Linn said a limited number of space heaters provided by Black Hills Energy are available at Aspen Police Headquarters in 540 Main Street. They were out at 6:20 p.m., but said there were still 3,600 on the way.
The city is asking people to park on the north side of Main Street or in parking lots in front of the Concept 600 building. People pulling up and opening their passenger windows will drop heaters inside for contactless distribution.
People who cannot come to the police station can request it by calling 970-920-5310 and an officer will bring it to them as soon as possible.
Pitkin County and the city of Aspen are holding a community meeting on Zoom at 6pm on Monday, which you can attend by clicking here.
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