4 ms·

Because no one lives in a datacenter and there was only water around the building.

• bayindirh 4y ago
  A datacenter, esp. when you store the UPS batteries near, is a ticking dirty bomb. Many of the systems have rechargeable batteries (UPS batteries & RAID controllers' battery backup), a lot of rare earth metals which release toxic fumes when burnt, etc. It's extremely hard to extinguish a full-blown electrical fire, backed by UPS batteries and other nasty chemicals and supported by a multi-megawatt power connection. You don't need to harm people directly. The fumes' effects are enough of an hazard for people already.
  • dx034 4y ago
    That's why the fire at the OVH dc took so long to extinguish. They had to stay away for hours and get boats to provide more water. Sure there were toxic gases, but I'm not aware of people being harmed by it, especially with no one living anywhere close.
    • bayindirh 4y ago
      The fumes doesn’t decompose instantly. They stay for some time, travel and lower air quality around. The best non wetting extinguisher gas, Novec needs a week to decompose completely, and it was the shortest time when we were building our data center.
• dylan604 4y ago
  What does nobody living in the datacenter have to do with the price of tea in China? In order to receive a CO in the US, an inspection has to be done to show that the build was done according to the plans on file. Part of that is a fire safety plan. You have to show max occupancy for any room in the space. That max number is determined by the size of the room, the number of egress points, the size of the doors, etc. Then the fire marshal sends a rep to insepct everything. So just from all of that exeprience, it has nothing to do with people living there and surprised me that it is not done in a similar fashion in the EU