Lawsuit Filed Against Company for Role in Texas Wildfire

While Xcel Energy has acknowledged that it played a role in starting the massive wildfires in the Texas Panhandle that broke out in late February, Gov. Greg Abbott announced preliminary damage assessments and made request to officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for help.

Abbott specifically directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to request that SBA join state and local partners to conduct joint preliminary damage assessments in local communities if the state meets the threshold for more disaster assistance.

“I urge all Texans who have been, or continue to be, impacted by these wildfires to report sustained damages to their homes or businesses through TDEM’s iSTAT [Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool] survey,” Abbott said in a statement.

“This SBA assistance will be a crucial first step for Texans in the Panhandle to begin to rebuild and recover from these wildfires,” Abbott said.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy provides power to homes across eight states. The company said Thursday that its facilities played a role in the wildfires that killed two people and thousands of animals and has burned more than 1 million acres.

Xcel’s acknowledgment followed the announcement of a lawsuit filed against Southwestern Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy. The plaintiff said that the fire started when one of the company’s poles broke and ignited a fire.