As thousands of homes remain without power or gas within the Marshall fire impact zone, some residents whose homes are still intact are worried about potential damage due to the snow and colder temperatures.

Kathy Mihelic of Superior was worried Friday morning that her house might’ve been destroyed by the blaze, but learned from her neighbor around 10 a.m. that her home of six years was still standing.

“It was such a relief to learn the house is still there,” Mihelic said. “But with the temperatures dropping and without power or gas, now we have to worry about damage caused by burst pipes.”

Although Aaron Spear knew his home was still standing on Thursday night, he also shared similar concerns as Mihelic.

“We were really lucky to not be impacted by the fire, but now we have to worry about something else,” Spear said.

As of 3 p.m., nearly 18,000 residents within the Louisville and Superior area were without power as Xcel Energy responded to 139 outages, according to the energy company.

Xcel gave residents impacted by the blaze tips on how to avoid these potential weather hazards inside their homes on Friday, despite the majority of Louisville and all of Superior remaining under mandatory evacuation orders.

The tips include:

• Drain water pipes if the temperature is below 40 degrees. Officials suggested collecting some water for drinking purposes.
• Shut off the water supply.
• Open all faucets including the water heater.
• Contact a plumber to winterize and protect the plumbing.

Xcel is offering electric heaters to impacted customers without gas. Residents can go to the YMCA in Lafayette at 2800 Dagny Way or the Boulder YWCA at 2222 14th St.

Despite Xcel offering free space heaters, Mihelic was one step ahead of the crowd and purchased eight space heaters for herself. She planned to get back into her home and put the heaters to work.

“We’re going to try and hike up to our house and we’re going to try to at least get some of them plugged in and hopefully save us from another headache,” she said.