Fire at X data center near Portland: battery room caught fire

Firefighters said the fire occurred in a battery room in a building leased by Elon Musk’s Company X

A fire broke out Thursday morning in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, in a data center leased by Ilon Musk’s company X. According to WIRED, emergency services quickly arrived on the scene. As specified a spokesman for the Hillsboro Fire Department Piseth Peach, the signal about the fire was received at 10:21 a.m. local time.

Hillsboro Fire Department spokesman Piseth Peach said the fire was reported at 10:21 a.m.

The fire originated in a room with battery packs, presumably of the lithium-ion type. Although the flames did not spread to other parts of the building, the room was filled with thick smoke. As of 3 p.m., firefighters were still working at the scene.

Servers are not yet confirmed

Company X has not officially commented. At the time of publication, it is not known how the incident affected the server infrastructure.

Before buying Twitter, Ilon Musk owned three data centers – in Sacramento, Portland and Atlanta. This structure allowed for load sharing when one of the centers went down. However, in December 2022, X shut down the Sacramento center, causing widespread disruption. Over the next few months, more than 2,500 server racks were moved to Portland and Atlanta.

Since then, X has moved more than 2,500 server racks to the Sacramento center.

According to WIRED, X leases space in a building owned by Digital Realty, one of the largest data center operators in the world. The level of support in such facilities varies depending on the terms of the lease. It remains unclear whether X shares the space with other companies.

Digital Realty’s official position

Ryan Young, vice president of operations for the Americas at Digital Realty, said the incident at the PDX11 facility has been contained and firefighters have already left the scene. «All employees were successfully evacuated and there were no injuries,»” the official statement said. The company continues to monitor the situation, prioritizing employee safety, facility security and minimizing the impact on customers.

Risks of battery systems in data centers

Battery modules, especially lithium-ion, are often used as backup power sources. However, they can cause serious fires if not used properly. A Hillsborough Fire Department spokesman said he did not recall similar incidents at other facilities in the region.

A spokesman for the Hillsborough Fire Department said he did not recall similar incidents at other facilities in the region.

XAI, the parent company of X, has previously been criticized for accelerating construction of a new center in Memphis. The facility, called Colossus, is designed to train AI systems including Grok. It houses more than 30 methane-fueled gas turbines. Because they are temporary, they do not require a federal emissions permit to operate, which has caused discontent among environmentalists and local residents. The neighborhood where Colossus is located has previously suffered from industrial pollution.

The Fire at X data center near Portland: battery room caught fire was first published on ITZine.ru.