Solar Panel Dangers For Firefighters

When fire departments arrive to a house fire where solar panels are interconnected to the power grid they have two options to kill the power on your solar panels and both ways are very quick.

Solar panel dangers for firefighters. Although solar panels ameliorate the negative effects of fossil fuel dependence and help halt climate change they pose many hazards and can be dangerous for firefighters. Firefighters may also find it hard to turn solar panels off because light can keep them energized. Worse rainwater can wash many of these toxics out of the fragments of solar modules over time. Firefighters arrive at the scene of a fire and then identify the solar system on the structure shut it down watch for hazards as they extinguish the flames and make sure the scene is safe when they leave.

The government and renewable energy industries must work together to create better safety standards. Much inaccurate information about pv and firefighter safety has been published on the internet recently even to the point of recommendations to let it burn if solar panels are spotted on a roof. They also contain lead cadmium and other toxic even carcinogenic chemicals that cannot be removed without breaking apart the entire panel. In laboratory based fire tests of roof assemblies 1 2 the maximum allowable fire spread is between approximately 20 and 40 ft 2 1 9 and 3 7 m 2 depending on whether an a b or c rating is desired.

Solar panels can make it more difficult for firefighters to maneuver on rooftops. Solar panels generate 300 times more toxic waste per unit of energy than nuclear power plants. John drengenberg a consumer safety director says that firefighters face a new threat caused by solar panels. Today in the united states demand for solar is at an all time high and the fire service must become educated and trained on the building construction designs and inherent dangers presented.

In actual roof fires with roof mounted solar panels fire damage has involved areas of between 1 000 and 183 000 ft 2 93 and 17 000 m 2. The safety of fire fighters and other emergency first responder personnel depends on. Apart from this a large number of firefighters have suggested and developed arrangements of solar installations that can be positioned on roofs in a way that does not. Common questions about fire safety with solar photovoltaics pv are answered below.