UPS battery fire in Beijing university data centre cuts network links

What happened

At 19:57 on 4 April 2017 a fire broke out in the UPS room of the network data centre at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The university cut the power immediately after being alerted and activated its fire emergency plan. Fire and police authorities made a preliminary finding that the cause was an accident involving the UPS battery bank. About 1 square metre was burned, and the damage was limited to the middle west side of the UPS.

No one was hurt. The fire made some China Education and Research Network nodes and the campus network inaccessible. Emergency power was brought on at 06:00 on 5 April and the network was fully reconnected by 06:30. Other Beijing university campuses were also reported to have lost network access.

Contributing factors

The preliminary finding named a UPS battery bank accident as the cause. No further contributing factors were reported. The university has set up an investigation team and launched a campus-wide safety inspection.

Lessons learned

1. UPS battery rooms need their own fire detection, isolation and suppression arrangements, and staff must be able to cut power to them quickly.
2. Network operators should plan for the loss of a shared core node, with alternative routing and emergency power that can be brought online within hours.
3. Routine inspection of battery strings, connections and UPS components should be part of maintenance, with follow-up of any heat damage.
4. Operators should warn dependent institutions early, because a single facility can disrupt many users at once.

More lessons on detection and monitoring, emergency response and public communication, electrical protection and isolation, from every incident on the register.

Source

thepaper.cn