Fire damages two buildings at Bitdeer Massillon site

What happened

A fire broke out on 11 November 2025 at the construction site of a planned Bitcoin mining data centre at 1115 Industrial Avenue SW in Massillon, Ohio. Firefighters put the blaze out. Two of the 24 buildings under construction were damaged. No servers or specialised equipment had been installed in either structure. The fire started in a building at the south-east corner of the site and wind carried flames to an adjoining building. No injuries were reported. Investigators found no signs of arson and were looking at whether construction activity started the fire. The company said it was still assessing the effect on construction progress.

Contributing factors

A company statement attributed the fire to welding during construction. That has not been confirmed by investigators, who were still examining how construction work may have started the fire. Wind then spread flames from the first building to an adjoining one.

Lessons learned

1. Hot work such as welding on a multi-building construction site needs a permit, a fire watch and ready extinguishing means.
2. Wind can carry fire between adjoining unfinished buildings, so temporary separation and fire breaks should be planned before hot work.
3. After a construction fire, check any electrical plant already on site, including transformers, before judging what can be reused and before work restarts.

Source

datacenterdynamics.com