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Solar PVUnited KingdomEIR-2522

Lowestoft school evacuated after electrical fire involving solar panels

June 2021Published 23 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

MinorThermal / fire
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
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out of service for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate

What happened

On 29 June 2021, staff and pupils at Ormiston Denes Academy on Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, were evacuated from the building at around 11.20am after a solar panel caught fire. Three fire crews attended an electrical fire involving the solar panels at the academy. The school was evacuated while firefighters dealt with the fire, which was reported as put out by 11.33am. The source does not report any injuries. It does not state the cause of the fire, the size or age of the solar installation, or who installed or maintains it.

Contributing factors

The source describes the fire as electrical and involving solar panels but does not give a cause.

Lessons learned

  1. Solar arrays on occupied school buildings should have clearly labelled isolation points so that fire crews can de-energise the DC circuits quickly.
  2. Operators should inspect DC cabling, connectors and inverters on a planned schedule, since electrical faults are a common ignition route for PV fires.
  3. Evacuation and fire plans for buildings with on-site generation should explicitly cover electrical fires in the solar system, and staff should be briefed on them.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, maintenance, inspection and ageing assets, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Source

suffolknews.co.uk

Published 2026-10-23. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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