Nursing homes are left in the dark as more utilities cut power to prevent wildfires

Broken utility poles are seen along U.S. 36 between Lefthand Canyon Drive and Nelson Road in Boulder County on Monday, April 8, 2024. High winds buffeted the area over the preceding two days, leading Xcel Energy to preemptively cut power to about 55,000 customers along the northern Front Range to reduce the risk of wildfires.

Power was restored to Frasier after 28 hours. During the shut-off, staff tended to nursing home and assisted living residents, many with dementia, Mendez said.Not knowing when power would be restored, even 24 hours into the crisis, was stressful and expensive, including the next-day cost of refilling fuel for two generators, Mendez said.

Restoring power to hospitals and nursing homes was a priority throughout the windstorm, wrote Xcel Energy spokesperson Tyler Bryant in an email. But, he acknowledged, public safety power shut-offs can improve, and the utility will work with community partners and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to help health facilities prepare for extended power outages in the future.

More than half of nursing homes in the West are within 3.1 miles of an area with elevated wildfire risk, according to a. Yet, nursing homes with the greatest risk of fire danger in the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest had poorer compliance with federal emergency preparedness standards than their lower-risk counterparts.in the past five years but are still relatively new. And nursing homes in the West are rushing to catch up.

Keeping residents warm during a minus-10-degree night or cool during two 90-degree days in Boulder “are the kinds of things we need to think about as we consider a future with preemptive power outages,” Mendez said.found facilities lacking. In Colorado, eight of 20 nursing homes had deficiencies related to emergency supplies and power, according to the report.

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