Utility says its equipment may have caused a record fire in Texas

A utility acknowledged Thursday that its equipment appeared to have caused the largest wildfire in Texas history, a blaze that started last week and subsequently burned more than 1 million acres in the state’s Panhandle region.

Xcel Energy, an electric and gas company that operates in a largely rural part of Texas, said in a statement that its “facilities appear to be involved in an ignition” of the Smokehouse Creek fire, which has killed up to two led. and killed thousands of cattle and other livestock.

The Smokehouse Creek fire is by far the largest of several fires that have charred the Panhandle since last week, leveling homes in and around small towns and creating potential economic ruin for farmers and ranchers whose land is scorched. Fire officials said Thursday that the fire was 74 percent contained, but that strong winds could make firefighting difficult in the coming days.

While the company acknowledged that its infrastructure may have caused the fire, Xcel Energy said it disagreed with claims that the company was negligent in operating its equipment.

Some landowners had already accused the company of being responsible for the fire. They say a wooden utility pole near Stinnett, Texas, was blown down by high winds, setting fire to dry brush and grass in the area.

Melanie Lee McQuiddy, a homeowner in Hemphill County, where the Smokehouse Creek fire burned uncontrollably across grassland for days, sued Xcel last week, saying her home burned in the blaze.

According to her lawsuit, the fire started when “a wooden pole that Defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain and replace splintered and broke off at the base” about a mile outside of Stinnett during high winds on Feb. 26.

The lawsuit names Xcel, along with a subsidiary and a company hired to provide maintenance on the power lines. It states that the companies’ negligence in failing to inspect and maintain utility lines and poles was the “proximate cause of the fire.”

Xcel Energy is based in Minneapolis and provides power to nearly 4 million customers in eight Western and Midwestern states. Through its subsidiary Southwestern Public Service, the utility has served the Texas Panhandle for more than 100 years.

Salem Abraham, an investment manager in Texas, Canada, said nearly all of his 3,500 acres of hay fields were burned in the Smokehouse Creek fire, and that he and other landowners were preparing their own lawsuit against Xcel. Their lawyers sent a letter to the company asking them to keep the utility pole as possible evidence in the case.

Mr. Abraham, 57, traces his roots in the area back to his great-grandfathers. He said he has noticed an increase in fires in recent decades as utility poles installed in the mid-century have become outdated.

“It’s the destructive combination of high winds and 80-year-old electrical components that have exceeded their useful life,” he said. “It is a problem that the nation must understand and solve.”

He sued Xcel once before, he said, in the 1990s, and the problem has only gotten worse since then. “I’m quick to file lawsuits, and I’m tired of electric companies burning down our neighborhoods,” he said.

In recent years, several major fires have been caused by electrical company equipment. Xcel has been accused of causing it a fire in Colorado in 2021, although responsibility is denied.

Ivan Penn reporting contributed.