One man sent to hospital due of exposure during recent Boulder County cold snap

Nicky Andrews and Nicole Dorfman, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·1 min read

Jan. 17—Boulder County law enforcement agencies received one call of an unhoused person exposed to the cold this holiday weekend, as temperatures dipped as low as minus 12.

Police responded to a restaurant in the 3000 block of Arapahoe Avenue around 7 a.m. Saturday about a call of an unhoused man who was non-responsive, according to Boulder police spokeswoman Dionne Waugh. The air temperature was reported at minus 6, and police called an ambulance to transport the man to the hospital, Waugh said. On Tuesday, Waugh said the man is expected to recover.

Boulder County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Haverfield and Longmont Public Safety spokeswoman Robin Ericson said they were not aware of any medical calls relating to unhoused people exposed to the cold temperatures.

Although the cold front brought a substantial number of people to the Boulder Homeless Shelter, it remained below its capacity limit, said Andy Schultheiss, the chief communication officer for the Boulder Homeless Shelter.

"During the cold front over the weekend, we averaged 190 people a night. It peaked on Monday night when we were housing 202. Some of those people were housed in hotels. We didn't go over capacity," said Schultheiss.

At the HOPE shelter in Longmont, the number of shelter residents rapidly increased throughout the weekend, said Laura Denton, the shelter director.

"We reached a maximum of 60 people on Tuesday," said Denton. "Our capacity limit is 49 but when it gets super cold we try to get as many clients in as possible. We opened at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and didn't close once until 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning."