A latest, hours-long hearth at a data center used by Elon Musk’s X might have begun after {an electrical} or mechanical situation in an influence system, in keeping with an official hearth investigation.
WIRED was the first to report on the blaze, which occurred on Might 22 in Hillsboro, Oregon. Information heart big Digital Realty operates the 13-acre website, and a number of folks conversant in the matter beforehand instructed WIRED that the Musk-run social platform X has servers there.
Information heart fires are uncommon, with about two dozen well-known incidents over the previous decade throughout hundreds of amenities globally, in keeping with various researchers. However rising demand for generative AI know-how—which depends on massive clusters of superior computer systems—is stretching the size and power needs of data centers. The extraordinary load finally may depart AI knowledge facilities extra susceptible to fires from overheating or malfunctions.
On the X knowledge heart, firefighters initially believed a lithium-ion battery might have been concerned within the hearth, however that didn’t find yourself being the case, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue spokesperson Piseth Pich says.
The hearth ignited a Schneider Electrical Galaxy VX uninterruptible energy provide (UPS) cupboard, in keeping with a fire department report obtained by WIRED. The UPS system, which is in regards to the dimension of a merchandising machine and is fabricated from steel and plastic, acts as a filter and short-term battery, offering constant electrical energy in case of an outage or different points. They’re widespread at knowledge facilities, business consultants say.
“A UPS homes massive battery packs which, very similar to electric-vehicle batteries, might be inclined to fires attributable to electrical failures or short-term excessive masses,” says Shaolei Ren, {an electrical} and laptop engineer at UC Riverside who research knowledge facilities.
A hearth division investigator was unable to visually establish a trigger for ignition of the UPS cupboard, however couldn’t rule out electrical or mechanical failure of “a fancy electrical system,” in keeping with the report. The path of the charring advised that the fireplace started inside the cupboard.
Digital Realty spokesperson William Reynolds stated that the corporate may “affirm that the fireplace was electrical in nature and never attributable to lithium-ion batteries.” His colleague Helen Bleasdale provides that the corporate has shared “related updates with the affected prospects” and “additionally carried out enhancements to forestall recurrence.” They declined to elaborate on these statements.
Schneider Electrical and xAI, which owns X, didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Firefighters arrived 11 minutes after the primary smoke alarm, in keeping with the fireplace division. Inside a second-floor energy room, they encountered floor-to-ceiling smoke and doused the burning cupboard with hearth extinguishers. The report lists an estimated $260,000 in losses to the info heart, together with complete destruction of 1 energy cupboard. Two neighboring ones suffered injury. No accidents had been reported.
Russell Carroll, {an electrical} engineer whose California agency EMI Sleuth helps examine fires, says insufficient cooling and temperature monitoring of energy techniques can result in fires. “A cupboard with poor air flow might have precipitated overheating to the batteries,” he says, whereas noting that images from the scene “present a perforated panel that would offer good air flow.”
