Penn Hills Firefighters Contain Morning Electrical Fire on 300 Block of McKenzie Drive

Pen Hills, PA - An overloaded electrical outlet prompted an eight-station structural fire response Monday morning, filling a Penn Hills residence with smoke before emergency crews extinguished the flames and safely evacuated the occupant.

On the morning of September 28, 2026, emergency dispatchers struck Incident 945, alerting Stations 227, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 285, and 196 to reports of an active electrical fire inside a single-family home on the 300 block of McKenzie Drive. Penn Hills Police Department officers arrived first on scene, encountering moderate smoke conditions pushing through the interior, and quickly assisted the resident in evacuating to safety.

Penn Hills No. 7 VFC Truck 227 arrived shortly after and deployed interior personnel to the seat of the problem, using portable extinguishers and hand tools to rapidly knock down active fire burning at a wall outlet. Firefighters immediately secured electrical power to the home to isolate the hazard and prevent secondary reignition.

Crews from Truck 225 integrated operations to conduct forced ventilation and clear lingering smoke from the living areas. Firefighters opened surrounding wall surfaces with thermal imaging cameras and confirmed no structural extension into the wall studs or insulation.

Investigators determined the fire was caused by an overloaded electrical outlet. No civilian or first responder injuries were reported.