Hi all. In addition to being a solar and wind system consultant and
author, I'm an officer on a volunteer fire department in a remote area
of the Northern Colorado mountains. About 5 percent of the residences in
our response area are off-grid, though the gridless area comprises over
75% of the district. We are a classic "urban interface" department, both
wildland and structural.
I'm working on a short powerpoint presentation about renewable energy
systems to give at meetings of other local urban-interface fire
departments, and likely make available free on the internet. I'm the
only responder on our department who lives off-grid, and most
firefighters don't realize the special issues with off-grid systems.
They expect that when you swing your axe and chop the mains off from the
powerline (or, preferably, throw the switch, but that's not always
possible), all circuits in the home, outbuildings and property are dead.
This is not the case with islanding systems, nor with solar arrays and
wind turbines using non-islanding grid-tie. And now that we commonly
wire PV and wind at voltages over 100v, it could be hazardous to the
firefighter that was not informed. Other aspects of the presentation
include wind turbine tower guy wires and their anchors that are
vulnerable to weakening from vegetation burning under them, the hazards
of battery banks, various ways well pumps might be connected (nice to
have water at the scene), and more.
Please contact me off list if you have any photos you would be willing
to share, with credit and copyright notice to you. Images of signage,
interesting system disconnects (not everyone has a factory-built power
panel) and their labeling, anything that might relate to firefighter
safety, would be much appreciated.
DAN FINK
Technical Director
http://www.otherpower.com/
Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department
http://rcvfd.org/
KC0VRD
WQGS890
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