Fire Fighter Do Not Like Solar Panels

A department is creating a curriculum on handling solar panels in a fire including how to cut through the roof and how to disconnect the system make firerescue1 your homepage open the tools menu.

Fire fighter do not like solar panels. Fire fighting in buildings and structures involving solar power systems utilizing solar panels that generate thermal and or electrical energy with a particular focus on solar photovoltaic panels used for electric power generation. Saying we can t fight a fire because of solar panels is like saying we can t fight a high rise fire because our ladders only go up four stories at the moment firefighters navigating. In actual roof fires with roof mounted solar panels fire damage has involved areas of between 1 000 and 183 000 ft 2 93 and 17 000 m 2. Much inaccurate information about pv and firefighter safety has been published on the internet recently even to the point of recommendations to let it burn if solar panels are spotted on a roof.

Another concern to firefighters is the solar panels themselves. Unfortunately solar panels reduce the area available on the roof for vents. In laboratory based fire tests of roof assemblies 1 2 the maximum allowable fire spread is between approximately 20 and 40 ft 2 1 9 and 3 7 m 2 depending on whether an a b or c rating is desired. Most building construction designs do not take into consideration the addition on average of 40 85 pv panels weighing 35 50 pounds each plus an additional 5 pounds per square foot of racking and.

Ventilation helps reduce heat prevents fires from spreading and increases visibility. The panels themselves are also too fragile for firefighters to walk on nor would they support heavy equipment. Wild fires release greenhouse gasses sending soot and other aerosol particles such as carbon into the atmosphere. The safety of fire fighters and other emergency first responder personnel depends on.