Solar farm reports no obvious damage after brush fire

What happened

A brush fire broke out on Saturday night at the 38-acre White River Farm solar site in Castleton, which is owned by Pure Sky Energy. The Rensselaer County public safety office said about 80 firefighters from 15 departments responded. Firefighters said strong wind spread the fire into a ravine containing a lot of debris. The company said there was no obvious damage to the more than 17,000 solar panels, and that electricity would remain off until necessary safety precautions were taken. How the fire started was still under investigation.

Contributing factors

Firefighters said strong wind spread the fire into a ravine that contained a lot of debris. The cause of the fire was not reported.

Lessons learned

1. Wind can carry a brush fire across a solar site and into debris, so access and fuel loads around arrays need attention before a fire.
2. A rural solar fire may need several fire departments at once, so response arrangements should be agreed in advance.
3. Power should stay off until safety checks are complete, even where no panel damage is obvious.

Source

wnyt.com