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Grid infrastructureUnited StatesEIR-0644

Fire at South Manheim Substation causes outages in Lancaster County

Sept 2026Published 11 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

MinorElectrical
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersLow confidence
supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordRoot cause hidden
Where
South Manheim Substation, Penn Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Operator
PPL
What
Fire broke out on evening of 9 September 2026
Injuries
None reported
Cause
Not immediately clear

What happened

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.

Contributing factors

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

Lessons learned

  1. A substation fire can trigger over 2,200 outages, so operators should maintain rapid isolation and restoration plans to limit customer impact to under two hours.
  2. Substation fires require local fire service attendance even when supply is restored quickly, so site access routes and hazard information must stay current.
  3. Power restored within two hours after a substation fire shows value in pre-planned switching, yet root cause work must still follow to prevent repeats.

More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

  • Exact cause of the fire
  • Equipment that failed
  • Cost of damage and repairs
  • Duration of any further outages

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

wgal.com

Other entries that name Lancaster

Published 2026-09-11. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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