March 7 (Reuters) - Electric utility Xcel Energy ( XEL )

said on Thursday its facilities likely started the

Smokehouse Creek fire, which has destroyed dozens of homes and

charred sprawling cattle ranches in the largest wildfire in

recorded Texas history.

"Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy ( XEL )

acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in

an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire," Xcel Energy ( XEL ) wrote in

a statement.

The Minneapolis-based utility, which provides power and

natural gas to parts of Texas and seven other U.S. states,

disputed "claims that it acted negligently in maintaining and

operating its infrastructure."

The Smokehouse Fire, which has burned over 1 million

acres since erupting in the Texas Panhandle last month, has been

linked to two deaths. At least 64 homes were destroyed in the

fire, Xcel said in a statement, in which it encouraged people

with property or livestock lost in the blaze to submit claims

directly to the utility.

The company said a second Texas fire, the Windy Deuce

blaze, did not appear to have been started by its

infrastructure.

Last Friday, a Texas homeowner who said their home was

burned in the Smokehouse fire sued Xcel, claiming that a power

pole owned by the company's subsidiary was in poor condition

before it fell and sparked the fire.

Xcel also faces a lawsuit in Colorado, where the costliest

wildfire on record in the state, the Marshall Fire, had killed

two people and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes in December 2021.