Data Center review from a fire-fighting viewpoint

This report is a scenario examining whether the Parker County Fire Department could handle a medium size data center fire or explosion, should the county ever approve one. Their arrival here is not inevitable — it remains entirely possible that none are ever built in Parker County.

Data centers are new but in the short time they have been around many major fire events have already happened.

Brief History of Data Center fires

1. 5/22/2025 Digital Realty data center – located in Hillsboro, OR
   • The fire burned for 5 hours with no injuries
2. 1/16/2025 Moss Landing Incident in CA
   • The blaze forced evacuations, blanketed the area in toxic smoke, cleanup by the EPA
   • The internal fire suppression system failed, leading to an inferno that burned for days.
3. 4/2019 McMicken Explosion in Surprise, AZ
   • Injured several firefighters and caused significant damage
   • Explosion of battery energy storage
   • Cause was one battery malfunction leading to thermal runaway
4. 9/02/2023 Windstream Fire in Lincoln, NE
   • A water leak reached high-voltage electrical equip., causing an explosion and fire
   • 911 services were knocked out for several counties
   • The fire disabled commercial power, backup generators and batteries failed
5. 5/21/2023 Digital Realty Fire El Segundo, CA
   • Cause not reported but damage due to fire and sprinkler activation
   • FD on scene for 24 hours due to batteries prone to reigniting
6. 2/14/2023 Cyxtera Technology fire Boston, MA
   • Electrical arc flash blew doors off battery cabinet-reason unknown
   • 1 employee taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation
7. 11/23/2022 QTS Data Centers Piscataway NJ
   • Flammable roof material caught fire on concrete and steel roof
   • Fire contained to outside facility
8. 11/09/2022 Comcast Centennial, CO
   • Cooling system fire- no addition details given
   • Fire leads to management decisions that lead to 300 employees laidoff
9. 8/9/2022 Google Council Bluffs, IA
   • Electrical explosion (arc flash) occured
   • 3 workers in critical condition

Core Hazards with data center fires:

• Thermal Runaway: battery overheating in chain reaction
• Toxic Smoke and Gas for the neighborhood up to 5 miles downwind.
• Lack of cooling systems
• Vulnerable to catastrophic failures
• The High airflow problem – cooling systems use intense airflow to cool electronics – feeding O2

Cause of fires:

• Electrical failures- electrical surges and Arc Flashes
• Overheating Lithium-ion batteries
• Inadequate Maintenance
• Human Error

So what if Parker County approves a medium sized Data Center?

Situation:

A medium size data center is up to 150,000 sq ft footprint (387 x 387) and 20 megawatts power capacity catches fire or explosion with injured personnel. This fire will burn for hours, and total event will last several hours.

Parker County Fire Rescue resources:

• Aledo station manning is ~6 personnel 1pumper (engine) 1Rescue truck per shift
• ~30 firefighters with Haz-Mat Technician level certification along all shifts
• Haz-Mat supplies are limited to small incidents. A level “A” suit costs $6,000 each.
• Mutual aid from Ft Worth and other county stations

Water required:

To put out a fire in a 150,000 square foot data center using a water-based system, you will need a fire protection water supply capable of delivering between 75,000 and 120,000 gallons of water total for a standard 60-minute duration. In fire protection engineering, systems are not designed to flood the entire square footage of a building at once. Instead, calculations are based on standard NFPA 13 "design areas” the maximum localized area where a fire is expected to trigger sprinklers simultaneously.

The Core Water Calculation Breakdowns

Data centers are typically classified under Ordinary Hazard (Group 1) for server halls and mechanical rooms, or Extra Hazard if they house large lithium-ion energy storage systems (ESS).

A 150,000 square foot data center is a small one. Most data centers are much larger and as such will require a lot more water and resources.

The site must be graded to be able to properly contain contaminated water and divert it so crews can continue to work and not be in a small pond.

During this event, approximately 43 personnel will be needed for initial response per NFPA 1710 standards.

• 4 Command and Safety
• 12 Fire suppression crews
• 8 search and rescue
• 8 ventilation and truck ops
• 4 Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC)
• 7 Water supply and Logistics

Crews will need to be replaced after approximately 20 minutes for rest and rehab. Please remember the event will last hours from initial response through cleanup. So we need an additional 39 personnel from our local area. If this event happens at a shift change, additional manpower will be needed.

Please remember crews are still needed to cover the county for medical emergencies, auto accidents, and other fire emergencies.

Equipment needed

Besides manpower and the trucks needed to bring them to a fire, the crews will need the complement of Haz-Mat equipment. This will include level A suits, specialized tools to turn off power to isolate incident. Specialized extinguishment agents based on the equipment burning.

Along with the manpower, tools, and equipment, extensive training is needed to be able know when and how to use equipment. The additional manpower, tools, training and time will cost the counties millions of dollars.

More about water

On Friday November 21, 2025 the Parker County Commissioners Court held a Water Symposium. Per Robert Mace Ph.D. at the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Texas State University, currently Parker County water demands are more than we have.

As the chart shows, due to population growth, by 2030 (in 3.5 years) we will need 10,548 acre-feet more water. One acre-foot equals 328,000 gallons. Currently no plan is in place to acquire this additional water.

A medium sized data center will require from 300,000 gallons per day up to 1,000,000 gallons per day. That is 365 additional acre-feet on top of the 10,548 already needed due to population growth.