CBS News: Solar Safety
Over the past few years, firefighters have been encountering more and more solar panels as more homes are outfitted with these energy saving devices. According to Butte County CAL FIRE Captain Scott McLean, “We have solar panels that sometimes become a hazard, and what I mean by that is the electricity flows from those solar panels down into the house at the electrical panel. There is no switch in between, so there is a lot of voltage flowing at any time that we can not turn off.”
“We have found … we can bring a tarp up on the roof and cover those solar panels, which take that aspect away from them,” McLean said.
NJ Firefighters seek training for solar panels
According to the Shore News, firefighters in New Jersey want training for solar panel fires and for dealing with fires at homes and businesses with solar panel installations.
John Berg, the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Township and an officer at the Ocean View Volunteer Fire Department said, “Solar panels maintain a charge and first responders need to know how to handle emergencies in buildings with these power sources.”
Alternative Energy Magazine on Solar System Safety
Brent Harris, the CEO of Sustainable Energy Technologies, addresses questions about the safety of firefighters while battling blazes on buildings with solar panels. He says, “the greatest concern for safety, firefighters and emergency crews have is not knowing if there is a solar PV array at that location. When responding to emergencies at tall buildings, or fires with a large amount of smoke, emergency crews are then forced to enter the building “blind”; meaning they do not know what they are going to face when they enter into this building. Although beginning to be noted as a concern in places throughout California – this is an issue which holds greater weight in Europe, particularly in countries such as Germany where rooftop solar systems are more prevalent.”
Fire Protection Research Foundation
“Components are always hot!” and “Operate normally, but don’t touch” is the advice provided to fire departments from the NFPA when dealing with a fire involving solar panels, due to current building codes and the lack of adequate technology available to fire departments.
The report is entitled, “Fire Fighter Safety and Emergency Response for Solar Power Systems”.
San Francisco Examiner: Solar Changes Rules
In a recent article, the San Francisco Examiner stated that as “part of sweeping changes to The City’s fire code, Fire Marshal Barbara Schultheis wants to adopt statewide standards for solar panel installation in order to keep firefighters safe. Those guidelines are much stricter than current regulations and could make solar installation in San Francisco more difficult.”
The new regulations include installing a bright red sign to alert firefighters that solar panels are present on the roof. No solutions to disarming the energy flow in the panels was considered.
Fire Engineering: The Impact of Solar on Firefighting
Timothy Kreis, writing for Fire Engineering, talks about the impact of solar panels on fire fighting. According to him, “A fire department in California attempted to black out a PV system by using a salvage cover to block out sunlight. The energy created by the system was reduced, but it did not completely block out the sun, and the system still produced enough electricity to shock a potential victim. Firefighters in Germany attempted to cover solar panels with foam to block out the sunlight, with a similar result. Sunlight was able to penetrate through the foam, and the PV system continued to create electrical energy. In this case, the foam kept sliding off the panels.”
His advice under the circumstances? “The bottom line for the fire service is to treat the system as any other electrical equipment and assume it’s energized.”
Australian Broadcasting: Solar Panels Spark Fire Concerns
“Up to 2,000 Australian homes could be at risk of electrical fires from poorly installed roof-top solar panels,” according to an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Geoff Stapleton of the Clean Energy Council and Ted Spooner of the accreditation department for Renewable Energy Systems, talk about the hazards to fire fighters involved with solar panel fires.
NACHI: Solar Panel Fires & Electrical Hazards
The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors has published guidelines for its members on inspecting solar panels and the dangers that might be present with solar panel fires to fire departments. According to the article, “In January 2007, California launched an effort to install 3,000 megawatts (MW) of new solar power, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Inspectors may encounter these photovoltaic (PV) arrays with increasing frequency and may want to be aware of the ways in which an installed PV array may pose a fire hazard to a home.”