Fire at data centre in Chai Chee sends one to hospital

What happened

A fire broke out at a data centre at 750C Chai Chee Road, Chai Chee, in the early hours of 14 March 2025. The Singapore Civil Defence Force was alerted at about 6am. It said the fire involved a server rack and was put out with a dry powder extinguisher, and that the sprinkler system also activated. One person was taken to Singapore General Hospital for smoke inhalation. SG.GS, which leases rack space at the facility, said the data centre is owned by WebSatMedia and that the fire did not start in an SG.GS system.

All SG.GS staff in the building were evacuated and were later cleared to re-enter. An SG.GS e-mail said initial checks showed servers were still in service, but that recovery would take time. The cause is under investigation.

Contributing factors

The cause has not been established. An SG.GS e-mail referred to an explosion as having caused the fire. SCDF said the fire involved a server rack and that the cause was still being investigated.

Lessons learned

1. A server-rack fire can activate suppression and still produce smoke that needs immediate evacuation and medical assessment.
2. Tenants should state clearly who owns the facility and which systems were involved, so clients are not given a wrong picture of the fault.
3. Early notices that mention an explosion should be treated as unverified until the fire service completes its investigation.

Source

The Straits Times (straitstimes.com)