Burning smell leads to evacuation and a small fire at a data centre in Watford

What happened

On 20 September 2016, staff were evacuated from The Chess Building in Watford Business Park after a strong smell of burning was reported from one of the computer suites and the fire alarm sounded. Two crews from Watford attended at about 1pm and extinguished a fire. The fire service believed the fire was accidental. Staff of Digital Realty, described in the report as a data centre provider, were among those evacuated. What caught fire, and whether anyone was hurt, was not reported.

Contributing factors

Not reported. The only stated view is that the fire was believed to be accidental, and that the smell came from a computer suite.

Lessons learned

1. Treat a burning smell in a computer suite as a fire event and evacuate until the space has been checked.
2. Keep routes clear so fire crews can reach computer suites quickly.
3. Record what was burning so a later review can tell a power-system fault from other equipment.

Source

watfordobserver.co.uk