Fire at school solar panel convertor in Lowestoft

What happened

On Thursday 24 June 2021, a solar panel convertor caught fire at Ormiston Denes Academy, a high school on Yarmouth Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk. Two fire crews, one from Lowestoft North and one from Lowestoft South, were called at 2.14pm. School staff had already extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher before the crews arrived. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service crews stayed on site to make the area safe and keep watch until an electrician could attend. A stop message was received at 3.54pm. The source does not report injuries, damage costs or the cause of the fire.

Contributing factors

The source does not state the cause of the fire or of the convertor failure.

Lessons learned

1. Staff at sites with solar inverters should be trained to recognise early signs of overheating and to use extinguishers safely before the fire service arrives.
2. After an inverter fire, an electrician should confirm the system is isolated and safe before the area is left unattended.
3. Operators should check that inverter installations in school buildings are inspected regularly for overheating, loose connections and damaged cabling.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.

Source

edp24.co.uk