By Clark Mindock
(Reuters) -A Texas homeowner whose house was destroyed by a massive wildfire raging northeast of Amarillo sued electric utility Xcel Energy on Friday, alleging that a splintered power pole owned by the company fell and started the blaze.
The lawsuit by homeowner Melanie McQuiddy, filed in state court in Hemphill County, claims the power pole owned by Xcel subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Company was in bad physical shape before it fell and caused the fire.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has killed at least two people and has grown into the largest wildfire in state history since it started on Monday in the Texas Panhandle.
McQuiddy claims Xcel had a duty to maintain safe electrical equipment, but negligently failed to properly repair and inspect its power line poles, leading to the fire.
“Xcel will pay for every dollar that its wildfire has caused,” said her attorney Mikal Watts.
The lawsuit also names Osmose Utilities Services as a defendant, which it said was hired to help inspect Xcel’s power lines but did not adequately do so.
Xcel and Osmose did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Xcel shares fell 8% on Thursday after the company disclosed a letter it received from a law firm that said the electric utility could be held liable for damages resulting from the wildfire.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire had blackened more than 1,078,000 acres (436,251 hectares) of grasslands and timber as of Friday morning, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, which said the fire was 15% contained at that time.
The blaze and others burning in the region have destroyed grain in storage bins and likely killed tens of thousands of livestock, state Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said on 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 are in feedlots and dairies that are unscathed.
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 that claim the company’s equipment is to blame for the state’s 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County. That fire caused an estimated $2 billion in property losses, Xcel has said in regulatory filings. The company denies its power lines were to blame.
Watts and his law firm also represent wildfire victims in litigation against Hawaii Electric, whose aging power lines have been blamed for starting last year’s Maui wildfires that destroyed the coastal town of Lahaina. Hawaii Electric, which is also facing dozens of other lawsuits related to that blaze, has said its power lines were de-energized before that fire started.
Watts also helped negotiate a $13.5 billion settlement with PG&E Corp on behalf of Californians who sued the company over wildfires linked to its equipment that scorched the state in 2017 and 2018.
(Reporting by Clark Mindock; Editing by Leslie Adler, Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)
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