Rooftop solar wiring fault suspected in house fire in Etawah

What happened

A fire broke out in a second-floor room of a house in the Khatkhata Baba Colony on Ramlila Road, in the Kotwali area of Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India, on the afternoon of Thursday 22 October 2026. The house had a rooftop solar system installed about two months earlier. The room held scrap material and a damaged printing machine. The homeowner told the press that some electrical wires of the solar system were exposed and that he had asked the person responsible to repair them for about two months.

Two fire engines attended, and firefighters brought the fire under control after about half an hour, preventing it spreading to neighbouring houses and the lower part of the building. Police also attended. The police in-charge said the initial information pointed to a short circuit in the exposed wires. No casualties were reported.

Contributing factors

Exposed electrical wires on the rooftop solar system, which the homeowner said had not been repaired for about two months despite repeated requests. The initial information points to a short circuit in the exposed wires, but this has not been confirmed. Scrap material and a damaged printing machine were stored in the room where the fire broke out.

Lessons learned

1. Inspect rooftop solar installations for exposed or unprotected DC and AC cabling at commissioning and at routine checks, and treat any such defect as urgent.
2. When a defect is reported to a contractor, set a repair date and escalate if it is not met, rather than relying on repeated requests.
3. Do not store scrap, waste or damaged equipment in rooms near solar cabling or the building's electrical supply, as it can add combustible material to an electrical fire.

More lessons on maintenance, inspection and ageing assets, worker safety and safe systems of work, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

amarujala.com