Roof fire at a warehouse solar array in Val-de-Reuil, France
Jan 2010Published 31 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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What happened
On 14 January 2010, at about 15:30, a fire broke out on the roof of a 15,000 m² authorised warehouse at Val-de-Reuil, France. About 1,000 m² of the roof was covered by photovoltaic panels, around 660 modules. The building had opened in November 2009 and was certified to High Environmental Quality (HQE) standards. About 40 firefighters brought the fire under control in about six hours. Crews faced several difficulties: they had no suitable equipment to dismantle the panels, could not stop electricity production so the panels had to be sheeted, risked electric shock, and found the fire spreading along cables and the waterproofing membrane.
Around 200 panels on each side of the burning zone were removed with a specialist tool to stop electrical arcing between panels and reach the fire.
Contributing factors
The source reports that roof works by an outside contractor, who was fitting a gutter beneath the photovoltaic structure, would have been the origin of the event. Access between the roof and the panels was difficult for firefighters. A fire-resistant wall and a fire-resistant support panel under the array stopped the fire spreading to the rest of the building. Damage was estimated at €350,000 to €400,000, and the photovoltaic installation was shut down for six months.
Lessons learned
- Control hot work and third-party roofing contractors on buildings with photovoltaic arrays, using permits to work and isolation checks before work starts.
- Give fire crews site-specific emergency procedures for rooftop arrays, including how to isolate the DC output, the tools needed to dismantle panels, and where the isolation points are.
- Use fire-resistant separation walls and fire-resistant backing beneath arrays, as these limited spread to the rest of the building in this case.
More lessons on worker safety and safe systems of work, spacing, layout and fire spread, from every incident on the register.
Published 2026-10-31. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
