Insurance companies sue energy corporation after it was blamed for helping start Colorado wildfire

abcnews.go.com:

Dozens of insurance companies are suing Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy to recoup money paid out to homes and businesses lost in Colorado’s most destructive wildfire in 2021

Dozens of insurance companies are suing Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy to recoup money paid out to homes and businesses lost in Colorado's most destructive wildfire in 2021.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, a few weeks after investigators announced that a sparking power line owned by Xcel was one of the causes of a fire that, fanned by high winds, destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and left two people dead. Embers from a smoldering scrap wood fire set days before on a nearby property used by a Christian religious communal group was also found to have been another cause.

The two fires combined to cause a blaze fanned by high winds that is blamed for causing $2 billion in damage in a suburban area between Denver and Boulder.

In response to the allegations, Xcel re-issued a statement first given in response to the results the fire investigation, saying that it strongly objected to its findings.

“We strongly disagree with any suggestion that Xcel Energy’s power lines caused the second ignition, which according to the report started 80 to 110 feet away from Xcel Energy’s powerlines in an area with underground coal fire activity," it said.

More than 150 insurance companies allege in the lawsuit that Xcel, which operates in eight states in the Midwest and West, failed to properly design, construct, inspect, maintain, repair or operate its electrical equipment before the Marshall Fire broke out on Dec. 30, 2021. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, said Xcel failed to de-energize its electrical equipment before the onset of strong winds.

The American