A power company in Colorado announced Saturday that it was cutting power to roughly 55,000 customers over wildfire concerns, as powerful winds, some as high as 100 mph, battered the state.

The company, Xcel Energy, said in a statement that it “made the decision to proactively de-energize lines,” which would affect customers primarily in Boulder County and small parts of five other counties.

The shut-off was expected to start at 3 p.m. local time and last until at least noon today. The company said that “outages are likely to persist beyond that time frame because crews must physically inspect the power lines.”

“Temporarily shutting power off is intended to prevent our electric system from becoming the source of a wildfire ignition,” it said.

The National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado, said on social media that winds are expected to increase through the afternoon and evening.

— The New York Times