AUSTIN, TX — Texas filed a lawsuit against the utility company Downed power lines It sparked the largest wildfire in the state’s history, a deadly fire Homes and livestock were destroyed and charred miles of landscape, causing more than $1 billion in damage.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by state Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses Southwestern Public Service Company, which does business in Texas as Xcel Energy, of negligent maintenance of aging utility poles. It seeks to recover economic damages incurred by the state and prevent the company from passing those costs on to customers.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire killed three people in 2024, burning more than 1,500 square miles (3,885 square kilometers) in Texas before spreading into neighboring Oklahoma. Texas A&M Forest Service investigators determined that the fire was ignited when a decaying power pole snapped and fell, sending Xcel power lines falling onto the dry grass.
The Minnesota-based company admitted that its equipment started the forest fire. But the lawsuit alleges the company neglected to replace aging power poles in the windswept Panhandle, some of which were nearly 100 years old and more than twice their typical 40-year lifespan.
“Xcel’s blatant negligence has led to the deaths of three Texans and caused unfathomable devastation in the Texas Panhandle,” Paxton said. “The company made false statements about its safety commitments and ignored warnings that its aging infrastructure needed immediate repair and modernization.”
Deaths linked to the fire included a woman who was engulfed in flames after getting out of her truck, and another woman whose remains were found in her burning home. A fire chief in one of the hardest-hit towns has died while responding to a house fire.
The company disputed Paxton’s claims of negligence and noted that it had already accepted liability for the equipment failure. Xcel said it has already paid more than $361 million to settle 212 of the 254 claims.
“When the Attorney General’s Office contacted us earlier this year to request information, we worked with them in good faith to try to find a consensual solution,” Xcel said in a statement. “They chose to file a lawsuit instead. We will review this lawsuit and vigorously defend ourselves against these allegations.”