Estacada planning commissioners hear fire marshal’s concerns about solar-farm fire response and disconnects

Estacada Fire Marshal Sarah Poet told the Planning Commission on Sept. 18 that firefighters face a safety hazard when responding to fires at large solar farms because the arrays can continue to produce electricity and “there's no way to shut them down.”

The commission heard from Poet, who identified herself as the fire marshal with the Estacada Rural Fire District, after packet materials from the state fire marshal’s office and related technical guidance were included for the commission’s review. Poet said last year she served as incident commander on a fire at a solar farm near Day Hill Road and that an inverter failure caused molten aluminum to drip onto vegetation between panel rows.

Why it matters: Commissioners and staff said Estacada sits in a fire‑sensitive area and that equipment and site maintenance at solar farms — including vegetation control and access for emergency crews — affect firefighter safety. Commissioners asked staff to look into possible local code options and coordinate with the state code adoption process rather than immediately drafting a city ordinance.

Poet described three recurring issues she said complicated firefighting operations: site operators are often out‑of‑state and do not provide local shutoff capability; some inverters do not have local disconnects and therefore panels continue to feed electricity during a fire; and vegetation between panels is not always maintained to reduce wildfire risk. “They are live when we're fighting the fire, and there's no way to shut them down,” Poet said.

Poet noted the State Fire Marshal’s recent publication included a section addressing solar‑system fires and referenced additional technical requirements for larger publicly owned installations in a national electrical code section she cited as “NFPA 70 article 6 91” (as presented during the meeting). She said she has joined the state code committee’s energy section for the 2025 code cycle to press the issue at the state level but recommended local planning staff examine whether development code language could require on‑site disconnects or other site improvements until state rules change.

Planning staff and commissioners discussed scope and likely impact. Planner Alan Wilson and other staff said Estacada has no large solar farms inside city limits but that farms exist in the county and nearby jurisdictions. Commissioners expressed support for safety measures while acknowledging much of the technical standardization may need to come from statewide code updates.

The commission did not adopt any ordinance at the Sept. 18 meeting. Commissioners asked staff to research potential development‑code language, collect relevant state and NFPA references, and report back; Poet said she would share materials she is compiling from the state code committee. The Planning Commission did not set a formal deadline for that work.

Poet closed by urging coordination between local staff and the state committee she is on so the city can consider interim measures if needed.