Fire at South Manheim Substation causes outages in Lancaster County

A fire broke out at the South Manheim Substation in Penn Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on the evening of Wednesday 9 September 2026. Emergency dispatch received reports of the fire just after 7.15 p.m. in the 300 block of Bucknoll Road. The Manheim Fire Department responded to the scene. At the onset of the fire, PPL reported more than 2,200 power outages in the area of the fire. Power was fully restored to customers in the area by 8.35 p.m. the same evening, and the scene cleared just after 9 p.m. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Not reported. The source states the cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

1. Rapid fire service response to substation incidents can limit the duration of customer outages.
2. Clear communication between utilities and emergency dispatch helps quantify outage scope in real time for affected communities.
3. Root cause investigation of substation fires remains necessary even where supply is restored within hours.

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