Pa. Firefighters Get Electric Shock at House Fire

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Sept. 10--Bradenville Fire Chief Mark Piantine may have been hotter than the blaze his Derry Township department was called to extinguish on Friday.

While dousing an electrical fire where West Penn Power lines entered the home at 213 School St., several firefighters experienced minor electrical shocks, the fire chief said.

"After it appeared we knocked it down using two 20-pound, dry-chemical extinguishers, I pulled my men off to wait for West Penn to come to turn off the electricity. I was worried for the lives of my men -- that that house was fully (electrically) charged," Piantine said.

While firefighters responded quickly to the 9:17 a.m. fire, less than two blocks from the fire station, it took crews from the utility company two hours to arrive to shut off the electricity.

"Usually, West Penn is Johnny-on-the-Spot; never had a problem. But this is frustrating. It could have been a lot worse," Piantine said.

West Penn Power spokesman Todd Meyers explained the delay was caused by multiple emergencies going on at the same time in the area.

Authorities said an out-of-state construction crew replacing the roof on the house knocked loose an electrical wire leading into the house, causing the fire and the long wait.

"I was sleeping inside, and the roofing crew had just started working, and I then I heard someone pounding on the front door (telling me) to come out. Sparks were flying all over, so I called 911 right away," resident Mike Stehley said.

Stehley and fellow tenant Rich Rhome left the residence without incident. None of the firefighters who got shocked were seriously injured, but a Mutual Aid Ambulance crew remained on the scene as a precaution.

"We've got volunteers who leave their jobs and families behind to respond to these calls, and we have to sit here, stand and wait for two hours. It should not happen," Piantine said.

Crews outside used infrared cameras to check inside the home to make sure the fire along the second-floor roof joists had not spread inside. Fortunately, it had not.

If it had, Piantine said, firefighters would have been restrained because of the delay to turn off the electricity.

"I can't risk the lives of my men," he said.

The delay was caused by another emergency.

"We had a dozen linemen working on a large tree that crashed on utility lines along Route 711 near Waterford in Ligonier Township. That was pretty big -- with eight spans of wire across the highway, and 360 customers were without power," Meyers said.

"Those crews were pretty well locked down on that job. That was almost the full complement, but we had another crewman working on another job in Lycippus (Mt. Pleasant Township), but he was right in the middle of that job. We had him finish up, and he got out there (to Bradenville) as quickly as he could," Meyers said.

"It was an unusual circumstance with ongoing incidents going on all at the same time," he said.

Piantine is not satisfied. He said an electric utility should have adequate crews staffed in the region it serves to handle emergencies.

"You have to be able to take care of things in your back yard," Piantine said.