Cranberry Township home damaged in Thursday evening fire
A home on Hunter Drive in Cranberry Township was damaged extensively after a fire started in an electrical panel Thursday evening, Jan. 25, officials said.
No one was inside the home, located in the 100 block of Hunter Drive, when the fire started, but Michael Hanks, division chief of Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company, said the homeowners may have just missed it.
“The homeowners left around 6 o’clock,” he said. “The neighbors actually saw the fire from outside the home. I believe it had been burning inside the home for some time before the neighbors actually noticed it.”
Crews were initially dispatched around 8:02 p.m. When Hanks arrived on scene, he said he also saw “heavy fire” on the outside of the home. Crews were able to put it out fairly quickly with only a few obstacles, he said.
“Utilities were an issue,” he said. “We put water on the fire to stop it, but any water coming down created an arc with the electrical panel.”
Fighting the fire became easier for the crew after the power company remotely shut off power to the structure, he said.
The fire spread from the basement up the siding of the house and into the second story, according to Hanks.
A Facebook post from the fire company indicated the flames required firefighters to tow a 300-foot line of hose to the basement while others sprayed the fire from outside.
The electrical panel was determined to be the cause of the fire, Hanks said.
“It did not appear to be anything suspicious. From what we detected, it all comes back to that electrical panel,” he said.
Hanks said the intense heat from the fire cracked several windows.
“With the amount of smoke damage, it will likely have to be gutted from the inside,” he said.
One firefighter suffered a hand laceration while on scene, Hanks said, but he was treated by EMS personnel and not taken to the hospital.
Hanks said the fire was well fought.
“We made a very quick, rapid stop on the fire,” he said.
First responders were on scene for a little under two hours, according to reports from 911 emergency center dispatchers.
Hanks said the SAFER Group responded to the fire, which is comprised of Cranberry’s fire service, Harmony Fire District, Adams Area Fire District, Callery Volunteer Fire Company and Cranberry EMS, as well as Wexford Volunteer Fire Company and Marshall Township Volunteer Fire Department from Allegheny County and Big Knob Fire and Rescue from Beaver County.
