Xcel Energy Accused of Causing Deadly Smokehouse Creek Fire

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that he was suing Southwestern Public Service Company, which does business as Xcel Energy, for allegedly causing 2024’s Smokehouse Creek Fire. The fire, which killed three and caused more than $1 billion in damages, was the largest wildfire in recorded Texas history. 

Paxton filed the lawsuit in Hemphill County, which is northeast of Amarillo in the state’s panhandle and borders Oklahoma. Hemphill County was among those counties impacted by the fire that burned for nearly a month and scorched a swath of land 35 miles across at its widest point. The lawsuit alleges the fire consumed an estimated 1.058 million acres, an area larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.