Utility company Xcel Energy says its facilities ‘appear to have been involved’ in start of Smokehouse Creek fire in Texas

Xcel Energy, the utility company that provides power to most of the Texas Panhandle, says its own facilities played a role in the start of the state’s largest-ever wildfire. “Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said in a press release issued Thursday.