US power company admits potential role in Texas wildfire disaster

US power company Xcel admits its equipment may have triggered the largest wildfire in Texas history

In a significant acknowledgment on Thursday, a major US power company confessed that its equipment potentially triggered the largest wildfire in the history of Texas.

Xcel, the parent organization of Southwest Public Service Company, which supplies electricity to segments of the state, disclosed that it is cooperating with authorities in scrutinizing the cause of the inferno that engulfed over a million acres.

“In light of the information currently available, Xcel Energy concedes that its infrastructure seems to have been implicated in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company stated. The devastating fire, which has claimed the lives of at least two individuals and over 3,000 farm animals, is believed to have destroyed hundreds of residences.

Although facing legal action, Xcel refuted allegations of improper maintenance of its equipment. Nonetheless, the company urged individuals who suffered property damage or livestock loss due to the Smokehouse Creek fire to pursue claims through its designated process.

The admission by Xcel comes in the wake of reports by The Washington Post indicating evidence of strain on the Texas grid in the hours preceding the blaze outbreak on Feb. 26.

Whisker Labs, a firm monitoring electricity supply grids, documented 50 faults within the system, typically signaling incidents such as power lines being toppled or coming into contact with trees, events prone to sparking fires in dry rural areas.

Source: AFP