Fire at solar array serving school complex in Basiliano, Italy

What happened

Italian fire service reports describe a fire at a photovoltaic system in Basiliano, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of northern Italy. According to the feed summary, the fire started in an external electrical panel of a PV system serving a school complex. Firefighters disconnected the array, and the fire was put out using extinguishers. The cause was still under investigation when the report was published. The headline of the same report describes the fire as deliberate and says that photovoltaic panels on agricultural land were destroyed. This differs from the summary, and the full article text could not be checked.

Contributing factors

Not reported. The cause was under investigation. The headline refers to a deliberate fire, which the summary does not confirm.

Lessons learned

1. Operators should provide a clearly marked and accessible isolation point for the whole array, so that firefighters can disconnect the DC supply quickly.
2. External electrical panels and cabinets on rural or unattended sites should be locked, fenced and monitored to reduce the risk of tampering, including where a fire is reported to be deliberate.
3. Public attribution of cause should wait for the investigation to confirm it, since early reports can differ.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, theft, arson and site security, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Source

vigilfuoco.it