A latest, hours-long hearth at an information middle utilized by Elon Musk’s X could have begun after {an electrical} or mechanical problem in an influence system, in line with an official hearth investigation.
WIRED was the primary to report on the blaze, which occurred on Might 22 in Hillsboro, Oregon. Information middle large Digital Realty operates the 13-acre web site, and a number of folks aware of the matter beforehand instructed WIRED that the Musk-run social platform X has servers there.
Information middle fires are uncommon, with about two dozen well-known incidents over the previous decade throughout hundreds of services globally, in line with varied researchers. However rising demand for generative AI know-how—which depends on massive clusters of superior computer systems—is stretching the scale and energy wants of information facilities. The extraordinary load in the end might depart AI knowledge facilities extra susceptible to fires from overheating or malfunctions.
On the X knowledge middle, firefighters initially believed a lithium-ion battery could have been concerned within the hearth, however that didn’t find yourself being the case, Hillsboro Fireplace & Rescue spokesperson Piseth Pich says.
The hearth ignited a Schneider Electrical Galaxy VX uninterruptible energy provide (UPS) cupboard, in line with a fireplace division report obtained by WIRED. The UPS system, which is concerning the dimension of a merchandising machine and is product of 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 frequent at knowledge facilities, trade specialists say.
“A UPS homes massive battery packs which, very like electric-vehicle batteries, may be vulnerable 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 fireplace 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 line with the report. The route of the charring prompt that the hearth started inside the cupboard.
Digital Realty spokesperson William Reynolds mentioned that the corporate might “verify that the hearth 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 applied 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 line with the hearth 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 middle, together with whole 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 could have brought about overheating to the batteries,” he says, whereas noting that images from the scene “present a perforated panel that would offer good air flow.”