Chief: Leftover embers from backyard campfire damage porch in Penn Hills

A Penn Hills home suffered minimal damage Sunday morning after leftover materials from a campfire burned through a storage container on the back porch, a fire chief said.

The fire was reported around 2 a.m. at 252 Springwood Drive. No one was injured.

Chief Al Wickline of Penn Hills Station 224 said firefighters were called for reports of a possible house fire. When they got to the scene, they found the homeowners dousing flames with a garden hose.

Wickline said the homeowners had had a campfire in their backyard and had used a plastic container to store leftover burning materials.

“Apparently, they just didn’t know that you can’t put hot embers into a container like that,” Wickline said. “It burned the container up and did a little damage to the back porch.”

Wickline said the fire was mostly out by the time firefighters arrived.

“We got the fire out, and then we just had to do some clearing the house of some smoke,” Wickline said. “They had some smoke on the first floor and the second floor. We cleared all that, checked the house to make sure there was no fire hidden in any other parts of the structure.”

Wickline said the fire caused some damage to the back porch and vinyl siding on the house. The chief declined to give a damage estimate, saying that is normally left up to insurance companies.

“It was good that they saw it and they started putting water on it,” Wickline said of the homeowners. “They were very lucky that one of them saw it.”

Wickline suggested people should let burning materials, such as coals, sit in a burner until they burn out or place them in a metal container.

Recreational burning is allowed but is regulated in Allegheny County. That means residents can do it as long as they have permits or abide by certain restrictions, including the size of a fire and what type of materials can be burned. More specific details can be found on the county’s website.

Earlier this year, county officials asked residents to refrain from recreational burning because it could negatively impact people with chronic health conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. It also can lead to brush and other types of fires.

“With more people at home due to the pandemic, we have seen a significant increase in recreational burning,” said Dr. Debra Bogen, Health Department director. “The resulting smoke reduces local air quality. And for our neighbors and friends with chronic diseases such as asthma or COPD, local burns can trigger the need for more medication, emergency medical visits and deterioration of the chronic conditions.”