Quantification of Green Building Features on Fire Fighter Safety
FIRE INCIDENTS
Solar Panel Malfunction on Elementary School
NFPA Journal Firewatch, October 2013
An electrical junction box for a solar panel array on the roof of an elementary school malfunctioned and ignited, starting a fire that spread to nearby roof materials over an area approximately 8 feet (2 meters) by 8 feet (2 meters). A passerby spotted the fire and called the fire department at 12:30 p.m.
The fire took place on a weekend when school was not in session.
The two-story, steel-frame building had masonry walls and a metal deck roof covered with a rubber roof membrane. The school was protected by a full-coverage, wet-pipe sprinkler system and fire alarm system, but neither operated because the fire was on the exterior of the building.Investigators could not determine the cause of the malfunction in the junction box.Damage to the building was estimated at $30,000.
Solar Panel Fire on Warehouse
NBC Philidelphia, September 2013
An 11-alarm fire gutted the warehouse owned by Dietz & Watson in Delanco, NJ. More than 200 firefighters from the surrounding towns. The fire took more than 24 hours to extinguish. Thousands of solar panel arrays covering the roof caused the roof to collapse within hours of the fire starting.
The solar panels caused the roof to collapse and it caused the firefighters to change their tactics. The electrified panels forced fire fighters to fight the fire from the exterior, or defensive position. Because the fire department made smart choices there were minimal injuries experienced from the fire.
Modular Home Destroyed
NFPA Journal, Firewatch, April 2009
In Massachusetts, a family of four escaped from their burning single-family home before the smoke alarms activated.
The fire, which started on the outside of their new modular house, spread along the vinyl siding to the roof of the porch and through a soffit to the attic.The two-story, wood-frame house consisted of four sections, or boxes, placed on a foundation, two on the first floor and two on the second, topped with a wood-truss roof. The placement of the sections created a 22-inch (56-centimeter) void between the first-floor ceiling and the base of the second floor, as well as vertical voids at the midpoint of the house and from side to side. A two-car garage was at one end, and the porch had been added to the front of the house. Seven hardwired smoke alarms were installed, one in the basement, one on the first floor by the stairs, two in the second-floor hallway, and one in each of the three bedrooms. There were no sprinklers.
The fire started when smoking material disposed of in a flower box on the front porch ignited and the flames spread up the siding to the porch ceiling, entering a void through the soffit at the leading edge of the roof. From there, it spread to the attic. A hole behind the siding that workers had left unblocked so that cables could be installed also allowed fire to quickly spread into a void between the home’s two floors.Once in the attic, the fire burned through the large open areas, heating the adhesive holding the plasterboard to the framing. The adhesive lost strength, allowing the ceilings to collapse, exposing the interior. The flammable adhesive contributed to flame spread.An occupant who heard the fire looked out the window, saw the flames, and immediately woke the others.
They called 911 from a neighbor’s phone at 6:34 a.m. A police officer responding to the call arrived within four minutes and reported that the structure was almost completely engulfed in flames. The truss roof failed minutes after the fire department arrived.Despite firefighters’ efforts, the blaze destroyed both the house, valued at $300,000, and its contents, valued at $200,000.
