How Fire Setbacks Work in Solo

What are Fire Setbacks?

Fire Setbacks are required amounts of space between solar panels and the edges of a roof plane. These are meant to provide space to firefighters to walk on the roof in the case of an emergency, and are typically required by the AHJ (city, state, HOA, county, etc).

How are Setbacks Generated? 

Fire setbacks are generated during the proposal creation process. Our Designers will draw and label rooflines, then fire setbacks will be automatically generated based on those rooflines. 

What determines the setbacks being used?

Our automated fire setback engine generates code-compliant fire access pathways in alignment with the 2018 and 2021 IFC requirements. This requires at least one continuous 36" clear path from eave to ridge, on each side of the ridge. Our system will determine the shortest valid path, that touches all roof planes at least once. Here is an example of the differences: 

Note: Adjacent roof planes without panels may satisfy the path requirement. 

Fire setbacks use the following measurements:

• Ridges - 36" 
• Rakes - 18"
• Hips - 18"
• Valleys - 18" 
• Eaves - 0" 

Flat Roof Logic

Any flat roof (roof plane with a pitch of ≤ 9.46°) does not require fire setbacks. An exception to this would be if the roof plane is being used to satisfy minimum access pathway requirments (which primarliy applies to designs that include both flat and pitched roof planes).