First was the pitch for the ecology and economy of installing solar cell panels on residential and civil building roofs. Next came domestic problems of neighbor shading of the solar panels by trees and new buildings and additions. Then there were the complaints of unsightly appearance in neighborhoods, and now it is the danger of shock to the firefighters during a roof blaze.

So the San Francisco Fire Department is updating its database with on-site roof surveys to pre-plan how they would tackle fires at each location. One wonders just how this would help roofing contractors or home handymen who make repairs to leaking roofs.