DENVER – Black Hills Energy teams continued to work to shut down gas service to about 3,500 customers Monday afternoon after three of their sites were vandalized over the weekend, and Pitkin County officials said those customers in the Aspen area will run out of heat and hot water until at least Tuesday morning.
One of the sites vandalized on Saturday night was in the city of Aspen, and the other two were in Pitkin County. County and city officials said Monday afternoon that there was an ongoing criminal investigation.
The vandalism was spotted on Saturday night after customers reported a loss of gas pressure, and as the investigation continued on Sunday, Black Hills Energy found more problems with the gas lines and began shutting down meters for affected customers.
Vance Crocker, vice president of operations for Black Hills Energy, said Monday afternoon that the crews hope to shut down the system completely by early Monday night and that the crews will then go to each customer location to make sure the lines are cleaned and reactivated. safe and secure Monday until 23:00. Black Hills Energy plans to have about 100 employees across the state working to restore the outage.
“First we have to make sure that all the gas meters are off, then we clean the system so that it is ready for the reintroduction of the natural gas source. Eventually, our technicians will go from door to door and resume each customer’s gas appliances, “Crocker said in a statement.
Black Hills Energy crews will then start turning on people’s pilot lights and other gas appliances starting at 5 a.m. Tuesday, county officials said. They demand that no one try to turn their devices back on. People can call 888-890-5554 with non-urgent questions.
The FBI has been called in to assist in the investigation because it involves critical utility infrastructure, and the investigation is being conducted by Aspen police, according to APD’s Bill Linn.
Linn said the vandalism took place at the same time on Saturday and involved vandalism of closed gas pipelines and that two of the three locations were open and not inside the buildings.
One of the sites had a group’s name, Earth First, written on it, but officials on Monday declined to say whether the name had anything to do with vandalism. He said he did not believe vandalism would qualify as terrorism.
“The word ‘attack’ has been widely used,” said Pitkin Sheriff’s Office spokesman Joe DiSalvo. “It’s not the word I would use. It was a deliberate attack to disrupt gas service in and around Aspen. “
Physical evidence, including fingerprints, was recovered from all three scenes, officials said.
The offenses under investigation include endangering a public utility, burglary and criminal forgery, Linn said.
A peak line for the investigation was set at 970-924-0614. The county prison operates on electric heat, DiSalvo said.
Linn said a limited number of space heaters provided by Black Hills Energy are available for lifting at the Aspen Police Headquarters at 540 East Main Street. They left by 6:20 p.m., but said there were 3,600 left on the road.
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 have the heaters inside for contactless distribution.
People who cannot come to the police station can request one by calling 970-920-5310 and an officer will bring them one as soon as possible.
Pitkin County and Aspen are hosting a community meeting on Monday at 6pm on Zoom, which you can attend by clicking here.
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