BRITAIN'S NEWEST HOMES KEEP CATCHING FIRE Tammi Atherton, 54, was sat watching Wimbledon in her newbuild home on July 4 when the fire alarm went off. She checked the house with her son Ben, 21. Nothing obvious. Then a neighbour started banging on the door screaming that the roof was on fire. Tammi and Ben ran outside in bare feet with their dog Oakley at around 12.45pm. The roof was already engulfed. Eight fire crews and four police cars turned up. It took four hours to bring under control. The roof collapsed before anyone could stop it. Her daughter Molly, 24, was in her garden in Bristol when her brother called. She drove over an hour with her partner and dad and arrived to find her brother just standing there watching the family home and everything in it burn.
The fire service suspects the solar panels started it. The estate was built two years ago by housing association Curo Group
@Curo_Group
. Molly says Curo were less than helpful, telling the family that because her mum owns the house, Curo can't get involved. Curo has since apologized, launched two investigations, and told every other household on the estate to switch their solar panels off. Presumably before anyone asks why they were left switched on. This is the second newbuild solar fire this summer. In May a £600,000 home in Wellingborough had its roof blow open with three adults and a child still inside, saved only because an off duty firefighter happened to be doing DIY nearby. UK fire crews are now tackling a solar panel fire roughly every two days. Britain's answer to net zero was bolting untested rooftop tech onto newbuild estates and selling it as progress. Nobody seems to have stress tested what happens when the climate solution becomes the fire risk.
The Athertons have lost everything. The house has been declared structurally unsafe. They can't go home. Curo gets to issue a statement and move on. If your newbuild has solar panels fitted by the same developer, maybe don't wait for the fire alarm to find out how well they were installed.