By: Diane Benjamin

Remember this story about a solar panel fire at the Walmart in Decatur? https://blnnews.com/2021/04/22/dispelling-the-uniformed/

Just a few days ago another Walmart roof caught fire. It had solar panels. This time it was in Macomb: https://wgem.com/2021/05/25/macomb-walmart-fire-investigation-continues/

This 2019 article claims solar panel fires at 7 Walmarts have occured. Panels were install on 240 stores. The two additional fires make at least 9. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/after-seven-roof-fires-walmart-sues-tesla-over-solar-panel-flaws/

At appears all the fires used Tesla Solar panels with SolarCity installations. There are lawsuits, Walmart wanted all the panels deactivated but the above article claims at least one fire still occurred.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/tesla-whistleblower-on-solar-fires-interviewed-in-cpsc-probe.html

Tesla got into the solar panel business by acquiring SolarCity in 2016.

If you plan to install solar panels you might want to make sure they aren’t from Tesla.