Clark Mindock
(Reuters) – A Texas homeowner whose home was destroyed by a massive wildfire that raged northeast of Amarillo has sued the electric company. Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:) on Friday, claiming that a splintered utility pole owned by the company fell and caused a fire.
Homeowner Melanie McQuiddy’s lawsuit, filed in Hemphill County state court, alleges that the power pole, owned by Xcel subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Company, was in poor physical condition before it fell and caused the fire.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has killed at least two people and grown into the largest wildfire in state history since it began Monday in the Texas Panhandle.
McQuiddy alleges that Xcel had a duty to ensure the safety of its electrical equipment but negligently failed to properly repair and inspect the transmission poles, resulting in the fire.
“Xcel will pay for every dollar of damage caused by its wildfire,” said its attorney, Mikal Watts.
The lawsuit also names Osmose Utilities Services as a defendant, which it says was hired to inspect Xcel’s power lines but failed to do so properly.
Xcel and Osmose did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Xcel shares fell 8% Thursday after the company disclosed a letter it received from a law firm saying the utility could be held liable for wildfire damage.
As of Friday morning, the Smokehouse Creek Fire had blackened more than 1,078,000 acres (436,251 hectares) of grassland and timber, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, which said the fire was 15% contained at the time.
The fire and others in the region destroyed grain in bins and likely killed tens of thousands of livestock, state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said Thursday.
Texas is the nation’s largest cattle producer, and more than 85% of the state’s herd is in the Panhandle, according to Miller, who said most of the herd is in feedlots and dairy farms and has not been affected.
Friday’s lawsuit seeks property damages for McQuiddy’s destroyed home and punitive damages.
Xcel is also fighting nearly 300 lawsuits filed by homeowners, businesses and local governments in Colorado alleging the company’s equipment is to blame for the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County. That fire caused approximately $2 billion in property damage, Xcel said in regulatory filings. The company denies its power lines are to blame.
Watts and his law firm are also representing wildfire victims in a lawsuit against Hawaii Electric, whose aging power lines were blamed for last year’s Maui wildfires that destroyed the coastal city of Lahaina. Hawaii Electric, which also faces dozens of other lawsuits related to the fire, said its power lines were down before the fire started.
Watts also helped negotiate a $13.5 billion settlement with PG&E (NYSE:) Corp. on behalf of Californians who sued the company over wildfires linked to its equipment that burned the state in 2017 and 2018 .