Electrical box fire at Solar Roadways installation in Sandpoint, Idaho
2017Published 8 Oct 2026Responsible editor: George, Chief Editor
What happened
Solar Roadways, a road-surface solar installation in Sandpoint, Idaho, had an electrical fire incident reported in March 2017. A remote observer watching the project's public webcam noticed an odd black substance and smoke coming from the electrical box near the installation and shared this on social media. Photographs in the article show firefighters in uniform at the electrical box. According to the author's account, wires in the box had caught fire and nearly set the whole box alight.
The project's webcam displayed a message referring to a hardware upgrade, which the author reads as a need to replace the damaged wiring. The source does not give the cause of the fire, the time it started, the extent of damage, or whether the installation was switched off. The article is an opinion column, so the account rests on the author's reading of the webcam and the photographs.
Contributing factors
Not reported by the source. The source does not establish a cause.
Lessons learned
- Check that cabling between solar arrays and electrical enclosures is rated for peak array current, so that conductors do not overheat.
- Inspect and torque connections in combiner and electrical boxes, since loose connections can heat and ignite.
- Use remote monitoring, cameras or alarms to detect smoke or heat in equipment enclosures and respond quickly.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, detection and monitoring, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-08. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.