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PT_BR 
Last Tuesday (15), a fire hit a shoe factory in Bairro Nova Floresta, in Patos de Minas (MG).
The flames spread around 12pm in the Patureba Footwear Industry, one of the most traditional in the region, and by 4pm the situation was already under control. The fire affected approximately 600 of the building's 2,300 m².
The suspicion is that the flames started after a failure in a photovoltaic panel. In an interview with Solar Channel, Corporal Thiago Joaquim, from the 12th Military Fire Brigade of Patos de Minas, said that the fire caused cracks in the roof and part of the structure gave way. There were no injuries.
Also according to the corporal, the project did not have an AVCB (Fire Department Inspection Report). “In other words, it did not have all the means to prevent fires and panic”, he highlighted.
O Solar Channel He tried to contact the company and the Civil Police to obtain more details about the investigation, but did not receive a response until the closing of this report.
How to avoid fires in PV energy projects
In an exclusive interview with Solar Channel, Captain Richard Birt, a firefighter who worked for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue for 30 years and founder of SAFE (Solar And Fire Education), gave tips on how to prevent fires in solar projects.
Throughout the conversation, the firefighter highlighted the importance of training companies and the lessons that Brazil can learn from the United States. Click here and access the full news.
2 Responses
A solar module shorting out, it's a one in a million situation, I don't know what a Fire Department report would be effective in preventing... just as it was in a panel it could be in a power panel.... due to overload or defect in some other component.
Good morning. At my company, my 60 kW Renovigi solar inverter caught fire. On the afternoon of December 1, 2021, after a rainy morning, around 2 pm, when the sun was very strong, there appears to have been a short circuit in the equipment, causing large flames and putting my facilities at risk. Fortunately, I have trained firefighters who managed to avoid the worst. Imagine if it were on the weekend when there were no business hours on site. To date, 02/18/2022, I have not received a response from the manufacturer regarding the equipment that was still under warranty. Fortunately, the company that carried out my project installed its own inverter so that I wouldn't be left without generation. Even so, I went more than 15 days without generating last December. Unfortunate.