Crews were working Monday night to restore natural gas service to thousands of Colorado residents after a string of vandalism damaged lines and prompted a police investigation. 

Black Hills Energy spent much of Monday shutting off 3,500 gas meters in Aspen, the company said in a statement. Technicians needed to go door-to-door shutting off meters before “purging and pressure testing the system.”

After that, the company could start restoring service for impacted customers who were being forced to live without heat or hot water in below-freezing temperatures. That process, which also requires workers to go door-to-door, is expected to continue into Tuesday, Vance Crocker, vice president of operations for Black Hills Energy in Colorado, said during a press conference. 

“We’ve got about 150 technicians working out in the field,” Crocker said. 

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The effort to restore service has been hampered by freezing temperatures and snow in the area. The low for the area is 17 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Additional snow showers are forecast for Tuesday, with the high at 25 degrees.

Black Hills Energy in a statement encouraged residents to help workers by clearing snow from gas meters. 

Black Hills Energy supplied thousands of heaters for residents without heat or hot water to use, said Gabe Muething, incident commander for Pitkin County’s incident management team. 

The local sheriff’s office is working with police officers to “try to determine what happened to cause this vandalism — who did it, how it happened, etc,” Aspen police chief Richard Pryor said during Monday’s press conference. 

A photo of one of the gas pipes, shared by the Aspen Times, shows “Earth First!” written on it. Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn told the newspaper that police have not received any communication from Earth First!, a group that describes itself as a “radical environmental movement,” taking credit for the vandalism.

Linn told the local newspaper that FBI agents are working with local detectives in the investigation. USA TODAY has reached out to the FBI for confirmation of its investigation.

Three locations were vandalized, and all three were hit around the same time, the Times reported. 

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