Datacenter Fire Frequency (Andy Lawrence)

Overview

Andy Lawrence's piece in the Uptime Institute Journal was written after the OVHcloud Strasbourg fire. It quantifies how rare data center fires are in Uptime's incident databases and where they start. Uptime's abnormal incident database holds 8,000+ member incidents since 1994, among which 11 data center fires were recorded. That is under 0.5 per year, and all were contained.

According to the article, the majority of fire incidents begin and end in the electrical room, often from UPS faults that produce heat and smoke. Batteries nearby can burn until the fuel is consumed. Another finding is that accidental discharge of fire suppression, especially high-pressure clean agent gas, has caused more serious disruption than fires, notably at banking and trading sites.

It closes with Uptime's recommended fire practices: VESDA early smoke detection, fire barriers and system separation, and well-maintained water sprinklers or low-pressure clean agent systems. The Tier IV requirement is 1-hour fire-rated partitions between complementary critical systems. As a limit, the article is an opinion and data summary; it covers only incidents reported by Uptime's members, so it may not represent the whole industry.

Key points

1. Uptime's abnormal incident database (8,000+ member incidents since 1994) recorded 11 data center fires, under 0.5 per year, all contained.
2. Most fire incidents begin and end in the electrical room, often from UPS faults; batteries nearby can burn until fuel is consumed.
3. Accidental discharge of fire suppression, especially high-pressure clean agent gas, has caused more serious disruption than fires (notably at banking/trading sites).
4. Uptime recommends VESDA early smoke detection, fire barriers and system separation, and well-maintained water sprinklers or low-pressure clean agent systems.
5. Tier IV requires 1-hour fire-rated partitions between complementary critical systems.

Using it in design

• Require VESDA in white space and electrical rooms.
• For Tier IV designs, enforce 1-hour rated separation between A/B systems (UPS, switchgear, battery rooms).
• Catalogue the suppression type with a 'dischargeRisk' note; high-pressure clean agent can damage disks.
• Prefer low-pressure agent or sprinklers.

Who should read it

Engineers designing fire protection, consultants assessing Tier compliance and data center operators.

Related standards

• NFPA 75
• NFPA 76
• Uptime Institute Tier Standard: Topology

Publication details

Authors

Andy Lawrence

Publisher

Uptime Institute Journal

Year

2021

Document language

English

Source type

Industry body

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation