Data centre fire in France linked to lithium-ion battery storage system
EIR-0629Provisional entry. Published from first reports. This entry is rechecked automatically and updated when more sources appear. Next update: 11 September 2026.
On 28 March 2023 a data centre operated by Maxnod in Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans, France, suffered a severe fire that caused significant damage to the facility. The site had an indoor solar-plus-battery storage system, and a lithium-ion battery is suspected, but not confirmed, to be the cause of the fire. One firefighter sustained a minor injury while responding to the incident. Industry commentary following the event, including from Uptime Institute, placed the fire alongside other reported lithium-ion battery related data centre fires, such as a 2021 fire in Strasbourg and a 2022 fire in South Korea.
A lithium-ion battery is suspected as the ignition source, though this has not been confirmed by an official investigation. The battery system was installed indoors, which industry commentators note increases the difficulty of containing and suppressing a lithium-ion fire compared with outdoor installations.
- Indoor lithium-ion battery installations should be segregated into dedicated, fire-rated rooms separate from critical data or operational infrastructure.
- Operators should evaluate foam or other purpose-designed suppression systems for lithium-ion fires, since water alone does not extinguish thermal runaway and mainly limits spread.
- Facility design and risk assessments should account for the fact that failure modes of lithium-ion batteries are not yet fully understood and existing charging or protection circuits may not address them all.
Published 2026-09-10. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.