Firm won’t testify before Texas legislative committee probing Panhandle wildfires

 

Texas legislators who are investigating last month’s deadly Panhandle wildfires that burned more than 1 million acres in the state and neighboring Oklahoma have run into a roadblock.

The company hired to inspect utility poles in the Panhandle has refused to testify before the lawmakers. It didn’t go over well with committee members when it was announced that Osmose Utilities Services did not appear during three days of public hearings in Pampa, reported the Texas Tribune. 

Osmose was contracted by Xcel Energy to carry out the inspections and Xcel had previously admitted that one of its poles and lines might have been the cause of the fire.