On Thursday, electric utility Xcel Energy said that its equipment likely started the Smokehouse Creek fire, which destroyed dozens of homes and scorched sprawling cattle ranches in one of the most devastating wildfires recorded in Texas.
The wildfire that ravaged the state in recent days across nearly 1,700 square miles has killed at least three people.
Xcel Energy Admits Role in Sparking Texas Wildfire
In a statement released on Thursday, Xcel said it had been assisting with the investigations into the wildfires while also carrying out its review.
According to the statement, based on currently available information, Xcel acknowledges that its facilities appear to have ignited the Smokehouse Creek fire.
The statement read, "Xcel Energy disputes claims that it acted negligently in maintaining and operating its infrastructure; however, we encourage people who had property destroyed by or livestock lost in the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process."
However, the Minneapolis-based company, which provides power and natural gas to parts of Texas and seven other US states, has denied claims that it negligently maintained and operated its infrastructure.
At least two lawsuits have been filed against Xcel, alleging that the company has failed to maintain the electrical infrastructure linked to the fire. Xcel claimed those who lost any property or livestock in the blaze should submit claims directly to the company.
Furthermore, the company said that its infrastructure did not appear to be the cause of a second Texas fire, known as the Windy Deuce. A Texas homeowner filed a lawsuit against Xcel last Friday, alleging that the Smokehouse fire destroyed their home and that a power pole operated by its subsidiary was in poor condition before collapsing and starting the fire.
On Wednesday, a second lawsuit was filed on behalf of a North Texas ranch, claiming Xcel was negligent in failing to properly repair and inspect its power line poles, resulting in the Smokehouse fire. The lawsuit said that the fire damaged the ranch's facilities and killed cattle.
Xcel also faces hundreds of lawsuits in Colorado, where the most expensive wildfire in state history has killed two people and damaged around 1,100 houses in December 2021. The company denied that its power lines were to blame.
'Burn Scar' From Texas Wildfire Captured
The vicious wildfires swiftly spreading in the Texas Panhandle over the past week have been captured in NASA satellite photos.
Texas A&M wrote about the Grape Vine Creek Fire on X, formerly Twitter, and said that firefighters continue to mop up across the fire perimeter, checking for hot spots near the perimeter.
According to NASA data, fires started in the Panhandle on February 24 and had spread widely by February 26 and 27. On March 2, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA's Terra satellite captured the burn scar of these fires in false color, highlighting the immense scale of the Smokehouse Creek Fire in particular.
Furthermore, another satellite image obtained by Landsat 8's Operational Land Imager provides a close-up of the Windy Deuce Fire's burn scar that displays the burned land surrounding the town of Fritch and nearby Lake Meredith.
Carol Baldwin, a fire scientist with the Great Plains Fire Scfighters, said that the straight edges in the burn scar indicate an edge was defended by fighters, often roads or trails, but sometimes a tilled or bladed line in grasslands.
