Fire Fighter Do Not Like Solar Panels

Fire fighting in buildings and structures involving solar power systems utilizing solar panels that generate thermal and or electrical energy with a particular focus on solar photovoltaic panels used for electric power generation.

Fire fighter do not like solar panels.

Unfortunately solar panels reduce the area available on the roof for vents. Much like the solar thermal panels these panels block access to the roof and are generally tied into the building structure or. The safety of fire fighters and other emergency first responder personnel depends on. Most building construction designs do not take into consideration the addition on average of 40 85 pv panels weighing 35 50 pounds each plus an additional 5 pounds per square foot of racking and.

These particles do not reflect light they absorb light reducing the intensity of sunlight and thus reducing the power generation of a solar panel. The panels themselves are also too fragile for firefighters to walk on nor would they support heavy equipment. 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. 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.

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. Wild fires release greenhouse gasses sending soot and other aerosol particles such as carbon into the atmosphere. Saying we can t fight a fire because of solar panels is like saying we can t fight a high rise fire because our ladders only go up four stories at the moment firefighters navigating. Another concern to firefighters is the solar panels themselves.