“Responding to a data center fire requires a completely different approach than a typical structure fire,” said Jasen Dodson, a Loudoun Career Fire Fighters Local 3756 member who was instrumental in developing a data center response manual for Northern Virginia, the largest concentration of data centers in North America, known as “Data Center Alley.”
“Coordinating with building personnel, using the correct suppression agents, avoiding electrically charged equipment, radio operation challenges, and issues related to lithium-ion batteries are all things fire fighters need to consider as they respond to emergencies at these facilities.”
As of last year, the United States had 5,381 data centers and Canada another 336, according to Cloudscene and Statistica, both are data-gathering services. The pace of construction continues to accelerate as tech giants make billions of dollars of investments in the space.
Fire prevention and suppression is a critical piece of protecting sensitive data stored and distributed out of data centers worldwide, IAFF experts said. Data center fires are rare, but they do happen. The rarity of such events is largely due to the stringent prevention and protection measures in place.