Experts say utilities need to be ready for extreme weather, which could be a challenge in a state where discussing climate change is often taboo.
Brooke McQuiddy sorts through some of her mother's possessions in Canadian on March 5, 2024. The mobile home her mother, Melanie McQuiddy, lived in, was on the lot in the background when the fire swept through.Before it burned to a pile of ashes, Melanie McQuiddy’s house on the outskirts of Canadian was her family’s home base. Her daughter and grandchildren flocked there for holidays.
The fire was another in a series of “man-made catastrophes across the western United States,” McQuiddy’s suit alleged, caused by utility equipment. Xcel Energy already faced hundreds of lawsuits after an official investigation found a loose utility wire caused one ignition point in late 2021 in a destructive Colorado fire, the
Even without knowing the fire’s exact cause, experts say the Panhandle fire shows utilities need to be ready for more extreme weather. This could be a challenge in a state where discussing climate change is often taboo, and where regulators are already stretched as they make sweeping changes to the main electric grid that failed spectacularly during a deadly 2021 freeze.
And utilities must file plans that say how the utility is inspecting poles and protecting areas that they’ve identified where severe weather could cause damage. A broken power pole, partially covered by blowing dirt, near Canadian on March 2, 2024. With the rangeland scorched, the top layer of earth is left exposed.And engineering has limits, said Brandon Grainger, associate director of the Energy GRID Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Engineers do the best they can with certain constraints.
Xcel Energy issued an earlier statement saying it would cooperate with officials and conduct its own investigation. Osmose CEO Mike Adams in another statement said the same. “We stand by the quality and accuracy of our utility pole inspections,” Adams said.
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