Family left with $50K in damage after live wire sparks fire questions power company's response time

A downed power line turned a Kittanning family's front yard into a dangerous scene. According to Chelsie and Ian Brooks, it left them facing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

The live wire landed on the family's truck during a storm on Aug. 8, setting it on fire and damaging other property, including two lawnmowers, another vehicle and the home's siding. Now the family is questioning whether the power company responded quickly enough and who should be responsible for the damage.

Chelsie Brooks said her husband's truck was parked in the driveway when the live wire came down.

"When the live wire went over it, the tires blew and when the rims hit the driveway, the electricity shot out the driveway," she said. 

The Brooks told KDKA's Meghan Schiller they watched as the truck caught fire.

"Me and the kids, we took our animals and we went back — that's his aunt's house back there, and so we were just sitting on the porch watching everything catch on fire," she said. 

Firefighters responded, but the Brooks family says it took time for a West Penn Power crew member to arrive and manually disconnect the power. Ian Brooks said the fire chief eventually called West Penn Power directly.

"That's where he heard it's going to take us four hours to kill it. From what he was telling me, they tried multiple times to kill it remotely, couldn't do it, finally they had to send someone out here to physically disconnect lines."

West Penn Power said a crew member arrived an hour after being dispatched. The utility attributed the initial lengthy estimate to multiple other 911 calls coming in at the same time.

Brooks says the family suffered additional damage while they waited for the power to be disconnected. He says two lawnmowers melted, the side mirror on his wife's vehicle was damaged and the home's siding was also affected.

"Like I said, they pulled siding off, to make sure that if that caught, it didn't take the house with it," Ian Brooks said. 

The family estimates the total damage is around $50,000.

"The truck itself was about $23,000 still owed on it," Ian Brooks said. 

"The house, damage to the tractor, there's damage to my car, damage to the driveway," Chelsie Brooks said. 

KDKA Investigates asked West Penn Power about the response time and whether the utility would cover any of the resulting damage. West Penn Power said the family will use its own insurance to address the damage to the destroyed truck. For the other damage, including the second vehicle, siding and two lawnmowers, West Penn's insurance denied the family's claim.

The utility said, "The claim was denied because the damage resulted from two trees falling during the storm, rather than negligence by West Penn Power. While we understand the financial and emotional impact that property damage can have on customers, our claims determinations are made in accordance with the facts of each incident."

The explanation doesn't sit well with the Brooks family.

"If something is in imminent danger, or 'hey, this is very close to the house, it could catch the house on fire,' I almost feel like that should be faster and I feel like it wasn't taken seriously. It was just like 'oh, OK, we'll be out there when we can,'" Chelsie Brooks said.