A downed power line in Sunshine Canyon in the mountains west of Boulder in December posed an electrocution risk to firefighters and bystanders after Xcel Energy re-energized it without repairing it, despite being notified of the break the day before.
Then, local officials added, it posed a wildfire risk by starting a small grass fire.
The line had gone down when Xcel Energy deliberately cut power to a wide swath of Front Range communities, citing extreme wildfire weather to prevent equipment from sparking a blaze that could become a destructive or even deadly conflagration…