Fire Department Setback warning [RE-wrenches]

Bill Brooks billbrooks7 at yahoo.com
Wed May 14 17:39:02 PDT 2008


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Mark,

The "final" version is what fire districts are being asked to implement.
Hopefully LA will use this version and discard their old version.
Residential setback is 3' on ridge and at least one 3' path per roof face.
This is only for fire districts that vent roofs. Some rural districts do not
practice roof venting, and many across the U.S. do not either.

I did a recent web seminar for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council
(IREC) back on April 30 that outlined what are in the guidelines and
basically how it got there. 

This issue is not new in the least, but it recently came to a head with
several situations including the LA guidelines released last year. If you
want to read a little about the process, there are some short reports on the
Solar America Building Codes & Standards website (www.solarabcs.org). The
direct URL is:
http://solarabcs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53&Itemid=
62. Although it will affect the design of most commercial systems and many
residential systems, had the process not been actively engaged by several in
the PV industry, the resulting regulations would have been far more
restrictive. If anyone would like a pdf of my presentation, they can contact
me offline.

The term "Final Draft" means final for a good while--probably a year. I
don't see much changing until the document has been implemented. Some
jurisdictions will take exception to the document, but beware of districts
who might defer to their own documents (old LA docs--not good).

Bill.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Frye [mailto:markf at berkeleysolar.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 5:07 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: Fire Department Setback warning [RE-wrenches]


Bill,

Thanks for providing the latest version.

I am going to guess that several of the folk listed as participants in the
process are not that happy about the ultimate outcome.

Fascinating stuff.  So where are we at with the folks down in LA.  Have they
gone thru the work of adopting their 4 foot set back as Local Ordinance or
are they enforcing thru discretion on a project by project basis? William,
do you know?
 
Mark Frye
Berkeley Solar Electric Systems
271 Vistamont Dr
Grass Valley CA 95945
(530) 401-8024
www.berkeleysolar.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Brooks [mailto:billbrooks7 at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:40 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: Fire Department Setback warning [RE-wrenches]

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Michael and William,

Please make sure your information is correct before you send it to everyone.
This is not correct. The new regulation just got released today and can be
downloaded from the State Fire Marshal website. Below is the URL. I'm not
saying it is all good news. I will be writing an explanation document so
that contractors and fire departments can understand the guideline and when
it is not appropriate to apply the guideline. 

Here is the URL:

http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/pdf/reports/solarphotovoltaicguideline.pdf

Bill. 

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