Utility Company’s Power Lines Ignited Massive Texas Wildfires: Officials

Power lines ignited the massive Texas wildfires, officials said on Thursday.

Utility company Xcel Energy said its power lines sparked the Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas panhandle.

“Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its equipment appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company stated.

The deadly Texas wildfires have scorched over 1 million acres, killed thousands of livestock and destroyed crops.

Ranches burned, highways were shut down and thousands were evacuated.

The number of cattle killed in the wildfires in not known at this time.

Massive wildfires engulfed parts of the Texas panhandle this week amid gusty winds and unseasonably warm weather.

Fire crossing Hwy 83 again 7 miles south of Canadian. #txwx pic.twitter.com/4bvzaXe4Fd

— Chad Casey (@WxFanaticCC) February 27, 2024

At least two women have died in the fires, the AP reported.

Birdseye view of the Smokehouse Creek fire damage:

I’m flying into Amarillo, Texas to cover the Smokehouse Creek Fire. You can see the burn scars where it was too hot for snow to stick to the ground.

The fire is now the largest in Texas history, at a staggering 1,075,000 acres burned.

Live reports on @KPRC2. pic.twitter.com/wAJmSaetUs

— Gage Goulding – KPRC 2 (@GageGoulding) February 29, 2024

The fire is 44% contained, the AP said.

The AP reported:

Power lines ignited massive wildfires across the Texas Panhandle that destroyed homes and killed thousands of livestock, officials said Thursday, including the largest blaze in state history that the utility provider Xcel Energy said its equipment appeared to have sparked.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said its investigators have concluded that the Smokehouse Creek fire was ignited by power lines, as was the nearby Windy Deuce fire.

The utility provider Xcel Energy said Thursday that its equipment appeared to have played a role in igniting the Smokehouse Creek fire, though it did not believe its equipment was responsible for the Windy Deuce fire.