Battery room fire at Digital Realty data centre in Hillsboro, Oregon
May 2025Published 7 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Battery room at Digital Realty data centre, Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
- What
- Fire broke out in a battery room
- Injuries
- None reported
- Response
- Local fire service responded; fire burned for five hours
- Cause
- Under investigation
Get the next one by email
Free alerts on data centre incidents in the United States, and an email when EIR-0106 is updated. No account needed; unsubscribe in one click.
Confirm your email and every data centre incident on the register arrives at once as a spreadsheet (CSV), free.
Get a free sample brief Three complete verified records and the incidents-per-GW table, by email within a minute.
We will also email you about the register's paid records and plans, at most once a week and three times in all. You can stop these at any time. By signing up you agree to the privacy policy.
Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Digital Realty
What happened
In May 2025 a fire broke out in a battery room at the Digital Realty data centre in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States, prompting a significant response from the local fire service. Crews arriving on scene found batteries alight, with the fire contained to a single room, though thick smoke spread through the wider building. All occupants were evacuated safely and no injuries were reported. Given the difficulty of extinguishing lithium-ion battery fires, the fire service adopted a defensive strategy, containing the fire and allowing the batteries to burn out rather than attempting direct suppression. The fire burned for approximately five hours before being declared over. The cause remained under investigation at the time of reporting.
Contributing factors
Not reported.
Lessons learned
- Lithium-ion battery fires in data centre battery rooms can last several hours, so operators should agree defensive containment tactics with the fire service in advance.
- Smoke from a battery room fire can spread through the wider building, so smoke migration paths must be assessed in the fire strategy.
- Evacuation plans for battery fires should account for smoke spread across the building rather than the fire location alone.
More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, spacing, layout and fire spread, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Battery model and age
- Cost of damage
- Downtime of the data centre
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Other entries that name Hillsboro
Published 2026-09-07. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
