Photo: Mission Local
A fire in January at a mixed-use building in San Francisco left one solar company without an office, but thanks to data back-up and some help from the city, Sollega is back on its feet.
The building at 22nd and Mission streets that housed the modular mounting manufacturer suffered an overnight four-alarm fire Jan. 28. Sollega sent a news release soon after that said, “The circumstances are difficult, but thankfully the team is safe and we are a resilient bunch.”
Immediately after the fire, the team continued working from the home of CEO Elie Rothschild. Last week, the team moved to a small temporary office a couple blocks away from the original. The city has helped Sollega and other companies impacted by the fire by connecting them with local businesses that can help.
Sollega received new computers and monitors from LinkedIn, Rothschild said, and furniture from a cloud-computing company. Other businesses impacted by the fire include a florist, dentist and law firm.
“It’s been really comforting seeing the whole community rally behind the businesses,” Rothschild said.
Sollega’s day-to-day business hasn’t been terrifically impacted by the fire, Rothschild said, thanks to the company’s habit of backing up records on the cloud.
Records that were saved include information on projects, engineering and accounting. Rothschild said the records were backed up at 5:30 p.m. the night of the fire, which started at 6:30 p.m.
“A lot of the friends of mine who have businesses in the building didn’t do that,” Rothschild said. “I think in the solar industry, data back up is commonplace, but if anyone is not doing it, they should do it immediately.”
The company hasn’t returned to the building to see what materials survived the fire, as firefighters have sealed the premises, Rothschild said, but Sollega’s inventory of solar panels is probably lost.
Rothschild said the company plans to move into a permanent space like their old one in a few months. In the interim, the company is focused on its increasing business, including a project with First Solar involving mounts for frameless modules.
“We’re busier than ever,” Rothschild said. “It’s good, but it has also been a little frustrating … we’re making do.”
