FIRE SAFETY
associated ignition risk. He said: “Look at the burnt isolator image on the right of this slide (Figure 7), and some of you will recognise it. We had a PV-related fire incident last Friday. Stuart Douglas (the Director, NHS Wales SSP – Specialist Estates Services) called me one night recently and told me we had a PV-related fire in an isolator – in fact an AC isolator on a DC circuit. They’re not compatible – as you can see from the photo. So, again, some of the challenges to consider.” Moving to look specifically at PV
installations, Anthony Pitcher said there were many modes and methods of installation. However, he told delegates, ‘from experience PV installations are generally driven by energy consumption, without all that much thought about the fire safety consequences’. Taking as an example a combustible EPS
roof with a bitumen felt covering, he asked: “Should we really be putting PV panels on top of that?” Another question might be: ‘If we have fire compartment walls abutting the underside of a roof, should we have PV panels spanning across the top?’ While these were ‘questions that needed
to be asked’, Anthony Pitcher said that ‘if it wasn’t in the guidance, it wouldn’t be done’ – adding that there was currently a lack of guidance around such subject matter. He said: “We also need to consider the inverter types and locations. Is it appropriate to have inverters and isolation facilities buried deep within the building? Or, should things like the isolation switches be located at the Firemens’ entrance?” Here he turned to the key fire safety
information that, say, an NHS Trust, should be able to offer the Fire Service. He said: “The Fire Service should be able to turn up on site, confident that the system has been isolated. We’re not just talking about a fire with the PV side of it, but a fire in the building. If there’s PV on the building, it will have an influence on what the Fire Service personnel do. If they believe there’s cabling going through the area that they’re working in, it could have implications.”
Schematic plans “So,” he told delegates, “we should have schematic plans, illustrating – particularly – where the DC cabling is, together with documentation, risk assessments, and fire manuals. These should all be there, but are often overlooked. The last point to draw attention to on this slide,” he added, “is the maintenance regimes. Most PVs are specialist pieces of kit, and you will probably have service agents looking at the PV inverters etc, but how many PV maintenance regimes are checking things like mechanical fixing of the panels, or debris build-up?” Debris build-up on the panels was ‘extremely attractive to nesting birds and rodents’, including squirrels – he had personal experience of what the latter could do.
Figure 3: Some of the official guidance on mass timber structures and fire safety.
He told delegates: “Returning to the fixings, and in the incident involving the burned out isolator I showed you earlier, as part of the system there were three PV panels on the roof that had been dislodged during storms. Whether that was a contributing factor to the ‘short’ and the ignition source the Fire Service identified we don’t yet know – the investigation is still ongoing – but it does highlight the fact that PV panels on top of roofs are pretty exposed, and we must ensure sure they are adequately maintained and serviced.”
Bristol Museum fire At this point Anthony Pitcher showed an image of a fire at Bristol Museum during 2022, thought to have been caused by birds nesting, again illustrating that, ‘just occasionally, PV systems are a risk’. As regards official guidance on the subject, he explained that among the key documents would be RC 62, Recommendations for fire safety with PV panel installations, and the IET Code of Practice, Grid-connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems (Figure 8). He said: “There are lots of other guides, but due to the number of queries we are getting around PV systems at Specialist Estates Services, we are looking at issuing guidance in the coming weeks. This will cover best practice, and promote and address some of the points we’ve raised
during this presentation.” Anthony Pitcher told the audience he
would next address lithium batteries. He said: “Certainly we are seeing more and more PV installation, some of which includes localised lithium battery storage, or BESS systems. Of course lithium batteries are now such a common part of everyday life, which I think leads to some complacency. We are blissfully ignorant of the risks surrounding them – and consequently see some bad practice. How many of us are guilty of leaving our mobile phones on charge overnight, or using our laptops on the bed or resting on the floor and the carpet when we’re charging?” The speaker went on to explain that
NHS Wales SSP-SES had had reports of staff taking extension leads out of windows in staff residences to charge their electric vehicles, parked up against the building. He added: “We also know of staff taking the batteries off their ‘e-bikes’, and charging them under their desks.” Anthony Pitcher said all such instances
posed ‘a very real risk’. He said: “At the lower end of the scale, the mobile phones and laptops have nothing to do with the decarbonisation agenda, but it highlights what we do with these batteries, and the potential risks. When we look at increasing energy density, unfortunately the fire risk is elevated as well.” He next played a short video featuring several lithium battery-
Figure 4: NHS Wales: Cause of Fires: 2012-2022. September 2023 Health Estate Journal 39
Courtesy of NHS Wales Shared Service Partnership.
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