Fire damages solar array on cold storage roof in Boyle Heights

What happened

On 14 August 2024 a fire damaged solar panels on the roof of a commercial cold storage building in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Firefighters sent to the 1400 block of South Los Palos Street contained the fire to a portion of the rooftop array and extinguished it in 48 minutes. No one was hurt. The cause was under investigation. Later reporting of the same incident said the size of the building and a split-level roof limited aerial ladder pipes, so crews worked from the roof with hand lines.

Contributing factors

Not reported. At the time, the fire service said the cause was under investigation.

Lessons learned

1. Large roof-mounted arrays on big or split-level buildings can put aerial appliances out of reach, so access and suppression plans should be agreed in advance.
2. After a fire confined to part of an array, isolate the affected circuits and inspect neighbouring connections before the array is returned to service.
3. Record the area of damage and the fire service timeline so later work on the same roof is based on what was found.

Source

theeastsiderla.com