Image: Fire brigade zone Flemish Brabant West
Firefighters in the Flemish Brabant, Belgium, extinguished a roof fire at Don Bosco School in Halle.
“The fire was quickly checked and extinguished,” said Flemish Brabant West in a Facebook statement. “There were no students in the building. Nobody was injured.”
Local media outlet HLN reported that the roof had around 160 solar panels, with around 100 destroyed in the fire. The fire also produced a large column of black smoke, reportedly caused by burning roof materials underneath.
“It’s not the PV panels that create all that smoke,” said PV fire safety expert Grunde Jomas PV -Magazine. “We always recommend that the entire system, including the roof materials, is tested before it is placed on a roof, whether it is a renovation project or a new building.”
“I am happy to hear that the firefighters were able to quickly suppress and put fire,” he said. “I hope that they are also prepared and able to work safely on the roof with the potentially dangerous electrical voltage that is present in the PV installation. From the photos, the roof seems to have a good space around the PV installation and also an access path from the window near the PV installation.”
According to StolenThe smoke column is very closed, making it difficult to see the size of the flames. “It would be interesting to get more details about the fuel on the roof and which materials have contributed to the dense black smoke,” he said. “Additional details of the fire would be interesting to be able to assess why the consequences of this fire became what they are today. This can be used to learn how future fires in roofs with PV installations can end with so low consequences.‘
The Belgian TV channel VRT reported that mayor Van Halle, Eva Demesmaeker said the damage should still be assessed, but that the flames did not reach the buildings.
“We assume that a technical defect in one of the solar panels caused fire,” said the head of the Flemish Brabant West, according to VRT.
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