Nearly 200 insurance companies filed a lawsuit alleging negligent maintenance of Xcel Energy power lines along Highway 93 south of Boulder which may have caused the Marshall fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.

More than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed and two people were killed.

The lawsuit claims Xcel’s power line south of Boulder near the intersection of Highway 93 and Marshal Road “was old and again, unsafe, and/or vulnerable to weather and environmental conditions,” and that Xcel was negligent for not shutting down the line prior to the onset of the storm.

After the disastrous Camp fire in Paradise, Calif. in 2018 that killed 82 people, PG&E started shutting off power when high winds are predicted, leading to widespread blackouts. The fire started when a hanger on a nearly 100-year-old high-voltage tower failed, allowing the line to spark against the tower, according to reports. The Camp fire resulted in PG&E filing for bankruptcy and settling with fire victims and others for more than $25 billion.

Xcel spokesperson Michelle Aguayo declined a request for information about whether Xcel has a policy for shutting down power lines during windstorms.

According to the final Boulder County Sheriff’s Office report on the origins of the fire there were two ignition sources. The first fire reportedly started near Marshall Drive and Eldorado Springs Drive on property belonging to the Twelve Tribes community prior to 11:00 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2021.

The report said the fire was started by a week-old legal burn of wood that had been buried that reignited when the winds blew away soil and fanned the flames. In the end, the Sheriff’s Office determined that there was no criminal liability on the part of the community.

By the time Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the Twelve Tribes property at 11:06, the first fire had already jumped Marshall Road and was moving northeast at South Cherryvale Road and Marshall Road towards Superior and Louisville.

More than an hour after the first fire was reported, a game camera on Boulder open space photographed visible smoke and flames about 2,000 feet southwest of the first fire, next to Highway 93 and east of Xcel’s power line at 1:20 p.m. Investigators noted that the game camera clock may not have been accurate.

In its investigative report, the U.S Forest Service determined that the fire started at the Twelve Tribes property.

“I would expect there to be civil lawsuits filed against both Twelve Tribes and Xcel simply due to the sheer amount of damage caused by the fire,” said Kirk McGill, a Denver attorney with Hall Estill in a June 8 statement to the Denver Gazette. “However, unless new information comes to light during those civil suits different than the results of the (Sheriff’s Office) investigation indicate, it is quite possible that neither Xcel nor Twelve Tribes would be found legally at fault.”

“We agree with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office report that the Marshall Fire started as a result of an ignition on a property previously reported to be affiliated with an entity called the Twelve Tribes, and that this ignition had nothing to do with Xcel Energy’s powerlines,” said Xcel spokesperson Michelle Aguayo in a June 8 statement to the Denver Gazette. “The Sheriff’s report cites several potential causes for a second ignition near the Marshall Mesa Trailhead that started roughly an hour after the first fire. We believe the second fire burned into an area already burned by the fire from the first ignition and did not cause damage to any homes or businesses.”

“We strongly disagree with any suggestion that Xcel Energy’s powerlines 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,” Aguayo added.

The insurance companies are suing for unspecified damages to be determined at trial.