California cold-storage provider sues solar businesses over $1 billion rooftop fire

A cold-storage company called Lineage is suing solar company Altus Power, its project subsidiary, and maintenance contractor Pearce Services over a fire that destroyed its 500,000-square-foot food storage facility in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, on June 17. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks more than $1 billion in damages. Lineage says the fire started in the building's rooftop solar array while Pearce crews were working on the system while it was still energized (turned on and carrying electricity), despite written instructions to keep it off until safety checks were done.

The complaint says a smaller fire hit the same solar array in August 2024, after which Altus had Pearce reconfigure the system. Inspectors later found more than 200 failed solar panel connectors in the array, including in the section where the June fire began. The fire burned for eight days and destroyed nearly 85 million pounds of food; cleanup took two months. Altus and Pearce both dispute the claims, with Altus calling the suit "riddled with misinformation" and pointing instead to substances released from the warehouse itself. Pearce says it's too early to assign blame while investigations continue. Fire officials have not released a final cause.

For homeowners, this is a reminder that rooftop solar problems are rare but serious when they happen, especially involving faulty wiring or connectors. Industry safety data cited in the case puts residential rooftop solar fire risk at about 0.01 percent per year — but keeping any solar system properly maintained and inspected remains the main safeguard against issues like the ones described here.