Grid infrastructureUnited StatesEIR-2005

PPL Electric Utilities substation fire disrupts power in Allentown

Nov 2022Published 5 Oct 2026

SignificantThermal / fireProvisionalNext update 7 OctNorth America

Estimated damage ModelledLow confidencesupply cut for •• days

From the recordRoot cause Failed part

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Companies named in this entry: PPL Electric Utilities

What happened

A fire at a PPL Electric Utilities substation in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania cut power to approximately 30,000 customers early on a Monday morning. The company de-energised the substation shortly after 8 a.m. after a fire in electrical equipment. Many customers were back online about an hour later, and the company said all outages were resolved by 10:30 a.m. The Allentown School District dismissed students early because of the outage. The city sent CodeRED alerts and advised drivers to treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops. No injuries were reported.

Contributing factors

The company said the fire in the electrical equipment resulted from animal contact.

Lessons learned

Rapid de-energisation and rerouting can limit outage duration after a substation fire.
Early public alerts and traffic guidance reduce secondary risks during a widespread outage.
Animal contact at substations is a known ignition path, so intrusion points on live equipment need routine attention.

Source

lehighvalleypublicmedia.org

Other entries that name Allentown

Fire at PPL substation reported to light up sky in Allentown EIR-1753 · 2023
Transformer fire causes outage in Allentown neighbourhood EIR-1324 · 2018

Published 2026-10-05. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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