“If we don’t do something to get those roads in there to act as fire stops it’s going to be huge before we can get in there,” said Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Scott Delany of any potential fire at the proposed Bollinger Solar LLC array.

Delany testified in the latter part of a conditional use hearing at the township building this week after Dr. DeeAnn Reeder, a bat specialist, offered her testimony.

Bollinger Solar seeks to build an 11-section solar panel array farm generating a combined estimated 33-megawatts of electricity at the site in Muncy Creek Township.

Deenergizing concerns

Should a fire break out for any reason, Delany said the solar array would need to be “deenergized” before he would send firefighters in.

Unanswered at this time is how that process would take place and whether the electric power could be turned off remotely by a local team or by PPL.

This is true, according to Zachary DuGan, attorney representing the Muncy Area Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, opposing the project receiving conditional use approval. To date, there has been no discussion or evidence presented whether there is a “kill switch” for power disconnection, who would be in charge of that decision, would it be a third party vendor or how close they are or if the responsibility would fall to PPL, the attorney noted.

Delany further expressed concern that without those fire breaks or fire stop roads designed and built (and, he said, they could be gravel or shale) that a fire would have to “burn its way through,” further potentially expanding the fire and, as he put it, “God forbid, it continue to spread to a barn or house.”

Delany told the applicant he would like to see fire stop or break roads every 100 to 150 feet if the topography lends to that.

He added that he believed the volunteers at the fire company had adequate training for dealing with these kinds of fires but equipment, especially smaller type vehicles, would be contributed as part of a mutual aid response by nearby volunteer fire companies and departments.

Equipment needs

Delany said a type of UTV with a tank with a small pump and 100 to 200 gallons of water on it, the kind some other volunteer fire departments have that are used for brush fires, would be the kind of vehicle needed to access the interior of the site.

He added that a perimeter road that would be inside the fence could act as a fire stop and help firefighters get access as well. Delany said the fire company would face a challenge to reach the back part of the complex to get in to fight a fire.

“Some fire departments have UTVs; we have trucks,” he said, noting how the back part of the proposed complex “is not accessible with our equipment.”

Samuel E. Wiser Jr., attorney for the applicant, added his appreciation to Delany on behalf of Bollinger Solar LLC for the use of the Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Co. fire station for these conditional use hearings that began in the spring. The township building also is being used for the solar hearings.

After that, Wiser then asked Delany several questions, one of them whether he knew the probability for fire at solar arrays is “relatively low.”

“No idea,” Delany said, who added that anyone could “toss a cigarette out the window.”

In terms of water provision, there is a hydrant on Muncy Exchange Road and there are ponds available in the area, Delany said.

The site lies between Fogelman Road and Muncy Exchange Road. Fire tankers and pumpers would need to be utilized, he said.

Wiser asked if Delany held any elected office. Delany is on the Muncy Borough Council serving as its president. As such, Wiser asked him if he was familiar with the land development process. Delany said he was and that he used to be on a zoning hearing board for Muncy Creek Township years ago.

The questions were based on whether Delany was familiar with the applicant being required to meet standards under electrical and international fire code as part of the building code permit process.

Bollinger Solar operates a much smaller solar farm that is accessed off Fogelman Road, covering about 4 acres on about 10 acres of land.

Delany said he had discussion about firefighter access to that location before it was constructed and numerous training sessions.

However, this proposal is far larger, an agrivoltaic project that would be called Sunny Side Up Farms, a joint venture proposal by solar-and-farming families of Lancaster County to have green energy of solar along with the agriculture aspect of five barns constructed, each housing 70,000 free-range chickens for egg production.

A separate company, AgVentures LLC, would be the company conducting the daily operations of the CAFO of 350,000 chickens. That would make it a concentrated animal feeding operation or (CAFO) that has been going through its own conditional use hearing process before the township board of supervisors – Eric Newcomer, chair and Harley Fry II.

The site is zoned primarily agriculture conservation with a smaller area of residential zoned land. An interested party, Lawrence Spatz, asked if the project design showed any road for access to fight fires going through the middle and questioned the logic of officials not adding that to the design for access. He also asked whether these access roads could support the heavy weight of a fire truck.

The next conditional use hearing on the solar portion of the project continues at 7 p.m. on Jan. 21 at the township building at 575 Route 442.

The next CAFO hearing on the chicken barn is at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Muncy Area Volunteer Fire Co. on East Penn Street.