Residential solar panel fire quickly extinguished in Champaign

What happened

On a Tuesday morning, the Champaign Fire Department responded at about 10:45 a.m. to a report of smoke on the roof of a house in the 1300 block of West Ridge Lane in Champaign, Illinois. Crews found the fire on a solar energy system panel, turned the panel off and extinguished the fire. No smoke entered the home, and the report said there was no damage inside. No injuries were reported. Crews remained on scene to deal with hot spots. The cause was described as accidental.

Contributing factors

The fire service linked the fire to a solar panel issue and described it as accidental. No further technical cause was reported. The department said this was the first solar panel fire it had attended in which the system had been properly inspected and labelled.

Lessons learned

1. Fire services should keep training for rooftop solar fires, including on systems that have been inspected and labelled.
2. A known way to turn the affected panel off, followed by checks for hot spots, supports a rapid response when smoke is reported on a roof with solar equipment.
3. Reports should distinguish what crews did from any later inference about why smoke did not enter the building.

Source

wcia.com