Data Centre Fires: An Emerging Area for Fire Investigation

Data centres are becoming a bigger part of the infrastructure we rely on every day. Banking, cloud storage, government services, communications, artificial intelligence and even the systems running many businesses depend on them. As our reliance on digital infrastructure grows, so does the number, size and complexity of these facilities.

From a fire investigation perspective, I think this is an area we need to be paying attention to.

It is important to make one distinction from the outset. A data centre is not an ignition source in itself. What makes these facilities interesting for fire investigators is the amount of electrical infrastructure, stored energy and interconnected equipment concentrated within one environment. A modern data centre can contain uninterruptible power supply systems, large battery banks, switchgear, transformers, generators, power distribution equipment, extensive cabling, server equipment, cooling systems and fire protection systems. Any one of these systems may become relevant when we are trying to understand how a fire started and how it developed.

The warning is not that data centres are inherently unsafe or that we should suddenly expect large numbers of data centre fires. It is that when a fire does occur within one of these facilities, the investigation can become very technical very quickly.

For investigators, that means potentially dealing with several competing hypotheses from the beginning. Was there an electrical failure? Was a connection overheating? Was there an issue within a UPS? Was a battery involved? Was there a mechanical failure? Did cooling play a role? Had maintenance recently been completed? Was there another external source of ignition completely unrelated to the technology everyone initially focused on?

That last point is particularly important.

Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly present within critical infrastructure, and understandably they attract attention when a fire occurs. We have seen significant discussion about thermal runaway, battery fires and energy storage risks over recent years. But simply finding batteries within an area of origin does not mean the batteries caused the fire.

The same applies to electrical equipment.

Finding heavily damaged electrical components within the area of origin does not automatically establish an electrical cause. Equipment can be damaged because it caused the fire, but it can also be damaged because it was exposed to the fire.

That is where our fundamentals as fire investigators become incredibly important.

NFPA 921 provides a systematic framework for fire and explosion investigation and reinforces that the scientific method should be applied throughout the investigation. We collect the available data, analyse that information, develop hypotheses and then test those hypotheses against the evidence. The fact that the technology is newer or more complicated should not change that process.

Babrauskas also makes an important point when discussing ignition. The investigator is effectively looking at the potential ignition sources and available fuels within the area of origin and asking whether a particular source was actually capable of igniting a particular material under the circumstances that existed. That becomes particularly relevant within a data centre because there may be a significant number of potential ignition sources in a relatively small area.

The investigation is also unlikely to be limited to what we physically see at the scene.

One of the biggest differences I see with this type of fire is the volume of information that may be available outside the physical fire patterns. Data centres monitor their systems continuously. Depending on the facility, there may be electrical data, battery management records, fault logs, temperature records, alarm histories, CCTV, access control information, building management system data, fire detection records and maintenance information available.

That information could be critical in understanding what was happening before the fire was discovered.

Did the system record an abnormal temperature? Was there a fault alarm? Did equipment trip? Was there a change in electrical load? Did a UPS transfer occur? Was equipment being maintained? Who accessed the area beforehand? When did the fire detection system first activate?

The answers to those questions can help establish a timeline and, importantly, help us test whether a proposed fire cause actually fits the available evidence.

It also means investigators need to think about preservation of digital information early. By the time we attend a fire scene, everyone is naturally focused on preserving physical evidence. In a data centre investigation, preserving electronic records may be just as important.

Fire protection and cooling systems can also influence what we see at the scene. Data centres can have sophisticated detection and suppression systems and substantial airflow associated with cooling equipment. Their operation, or failure to operate, can influence smoke movement, fire development and the resulting damage patterns. Firefighting intervention can further alter the scene.

This means we need to understand not only where the fire started, but how the facility was designed and how those systems were operating at the time.

There is also another issue that makes these losses different. The physical fire damage may not necessarily reflect the overall size of the loss.

A fire might be contained to a relatively small area, cabinet or room, but the interruption to the facility can be significant. Smoke contamination, water, loss of power, shutdown of cooling systems and damage to sensitive electronic equipment may affect systems well beyond the area directly exposed to fire.

From an insurance and forensic perspective, determining what was damaged by the initiating event, what was damaged by subsequent fire development and what may have failed independently becomes extremely important.

These are also unlikely to always be investigations conducted by one person in isolation.

There will be matters where specialist electrical engineers, battery experts, fire protection engineers, equipment manufacturers or other technical specialists need to be involved. Part of being a good fire investigator is recognising when the investigation requires expertise beyond our own.

Kirk's Fire Investigation talks about how the profession has had to continue evolving alongside changes in forensic science, technology and the complexity of the fire scenes we investigate. Data centres are another example of that evolution.

Twenty years ago, many of the systems we are now seeing within modern infrastructure either did not exist at the same scale or were not something investigators regularly encountered. That is going to continue changing.

As fire investigators, we need to understand what we are walking into before the fire happens, not after.

At Forensic Origin & Cause Investigations Australia, we are preparing for that change.

We conduct independent fire investigations and our role is to follow the evidence, develop and test the available hypotheses and determine what can reasonably be established about the origin and cause of a fire.

As emerging technologies introduce more complex electrical infrastructure, battery systems, power electronics and interconnected equipment into our built environment, we recognise that our knowledge and investigative approach also need to continue developing.

Data centre fires are exactly the type of loss where independence, a strong scientific methodology and a multidisciplinary approach can become critical.

We are ready to assist insurers, loss adjusters, legal practitioners, facility operators, engineers and other interested parties when these incidents occur.

The warning for the fire investigation industry is not that data centres are suddenly becoming dangerous.

It is that the infrastructure we are building today will eventually become the fire scenes we are asked to investigate.

We need to be ready for them.

If you have experienced a fire involving a data centre, critical infrastructure, battery system, electrical equipment or another complex commercial facility, get in touch with Forensic Origin & Cause Investigations Australia to discuss how we can assist with an independent origin and cause investigation.