Characterizing officials as a deliberate act on Aspen’s critical infrastructure during the busiest week of the year, residents and businesses of the city will be left without heat or hot water for most of Monday and possibly until Tuesday.
Weather, temperatures and deep snow have delayed Black Hills Energy employees, who must each visit and turn off about 3,500 affected natural gas meters, Black Hills spokeswoman Carly West said Monday morning.
A community meeting was held Monday at 6 p.m. to give notice of the outage. In a Pitkin Alert at 1:30 p.m., officials said the details of the meeting will be posted on the pitkincounty.com website later Monday.
“The process of bringing customers back to the system requires several steps,” Vance Crocker, vice president of operations at Black Hills Energy Colorado, said in an update. ‘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. Eventually, our technicians will go from house to house and re-ignite each customer’s gas appliances. ”
Black Hills hopes the meters will be down by Monday afternoon, and then perform a purification and pressure test on the system before visiting and turning on each of the 3,500 gas meters again, she said.
Crocker told a news conference Monday afternoon that 1,000 meters were closed with another 2,500 to go.
“We are hopeful that by (Monday) evening we can come to light again for residential customers,” West said Monday morning.
The company’s timeline for lighting 3,500 individual pilot lights has been updated in the Pitkin Alert and said it will run until 11pm Monday and then continue on Tuesday at 5am.
According to the Pitkin Alert, customers may smell a faint natural gas due to the controlled release during the purification of the lines.
‘This is normal and expected and is step one in the multistep process. “From tonight until 23:00, some customers will see BHE employees at their door to ensure safe delivery of natural gas and light appliances,” the warning said. ‘The lighting process will then continue tomorrow and start at 05:00. Do not try to light appliances alone. Please ensure that someone over the age of 18 is present and that all animals are safe. ”
A snowstorm is forecast in the Aspen area with temperatures expected in the mid to low 20s on Tuesday and Wednesday.
She urged homeowners to help technicians by using a broom or their hands to uncover gas meters. Do not use hard or sharp objects to remove snow from the meters.
A Black Hills news release on Sunday said vandalism at several of the company’s “assets” caused the disruption of gas services in an area that includes only the Aspen area. The fact that someone or persons hit more than one gas transmission site apparently indicates a deliberate attack on just the city of Aspen during the most traditionally busy week of the year.
“It’s almost an act of terrorism to me,” said Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper, who was without heat at her home in the Smuggler Mountain area. ‘It’s trying to destroy a mountain community at the height of the holiday season. This was not a national gas mistake. It was a deliberate act.
“Someone wants to make a statement of some kind.”
West did not immediately want to answer questions about whether an attack was of some kind, exactly how many sites were vandalized and whether any information about who was responsible was left at the scene.
Pitkin County manager Jon Peacock said Monday he was not prepared to describe the gas outage as an “attack” because it needed to be investigated further. However, if it was vandalism, the consequences – whether intentional or unintentional – would harm people and businesses that already have the effects of COVID-19.
“It’s a big impact on people’s lives,” Peacock said. “If it was an intentional act, it’s unbelievable.”
Law enforcement sources were tight on Monday morning about the vandalism, although Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo promised answers would come Monday.
“I am committed to being 100% transparent with the community about what happened and how it happened,” he said. “This is when people need to hear honesty from the government.”
Andrew Travers / The Aspen Times
Aspen assistant police chief Bill Linn declined to comment Monday.
Meanwhile, Black Hills Energy has imported between 110 and 120 technicians to Aspen to alleviate the crisis, West said.
In addition, the company estimated an estimated 3,000 space heaters were brought in from Denver, although they were again dependent, she said. A distribution system for the heaters has not yet been designed, West said.
This is an evolving story that will be updated.