State Investigators Say Power Lines Ignited Record Texas Fire

State investigators concluded that the largest wildfire on record in Texas history was “ignited by power lines,” a spokeswoman for the Texas A&M Forest Service, which conducted the inquiry, said on Thursday.

The investigators’ findings came as a utility company acknowledged the role that its equipment appeared to have played in starting the fire, called the Smokehouse Creek fire, which began last week and went on to burn more than one million acres in the state’s Panhandle region.

Xcel Energy, an electric and gas company that operates in a mostly rural part of Texas, said in a statement that its “facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition” of the blaze, the Smokehouse Creek fire, which has led to two deaths and killed thousands of cattle and other livestock.

The Smokehouse Creek fire is by far the largest of several fires that have charred the Panhandle since last week, leveling homes in and around small towns and spelling potential economic ruin for farmers and ranchers whose land was scorched. Fire officials said on Thursday that the fire was 74 percent contained, but that strong winds could make firefighting difficult in the next few days.

The forest service investigators concluded that power lines had caused both that fire and another, known as the Windy Deuce fire, that burned around the same time, incinerating homes in the town of Fritch last month.

Though Xcel Energy acknowledged that its infrastructure may have started the Smokehouse Creek fire, the company said it did not agree with claims that it was negligent in operating its equipment. And it did not acknowledge any role in the Windy Deuce fire.