Firefighting efforts continue at Digital Realty’s SIN11 data center in Singapore more than 24 hours after the fire started. The fire began at around 7.45am on Tuesday, and all on-site personnel were safely evacuated by 8.15am with no injuries reported.
Despite Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) safety standards requiring all Energy Storage Systems (ESS) installations to be located on the ground floor, in a CNA report last night, SCDF confirmed the fire involved lithium-ion batteries housed in battery rooms on the third floor of a four-story building. However, Digital Realty clarified that the facility, SIN11, was launched in 2016, prior to the implementation of the SCDF safety standards in June 2020.
SCDF responded by deploying four water jets to contain the fire. The sprinkler system was also activated.
Lithium-ion batteries, commonly found in devices ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles, present a unique challenge in fire suppression. These fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish.
Once ignited, lithium-ion batteries can spontaneously reignite, even after the initial flames are extinguished, as their internal chemistry continues to produce heat and fuel for combustion.
Additionally, these fires release toxic fumes, such as hydrogen fluoride and other harmful gasses, posing risks to firefighters and complicating the firefighting process. It is understood that the firefighters are currently deployed in “damping down” operations to cool the batteries involved in the fire.
The protracted efforts to extinguish the lithium-ion fire at Digital Realty’s SIN11 data center in Singapore have led to significant disruptions. One of the challenges posed is the pooling of water, which can cause short circuits and damage IT equipment.
To mitigate these risks, power has been switched off in certain areas of the data center, including the third floor. While this has helped to prevent further damage, it has also impacted customers who rely on the data center for their operations.
As of 0146 SGT on Wednesday, Alibaba Cloud issued a public statement confirming that one of its server rooms in Singapore Availability Zone C had experienced water accumulation and leaks. To mitigate the risk of electrical short circuits, an emergency power shutdown was implemented for the affected building.
Firefighting efforts are ongoing at the time of this report.
