VIDEO: Experts are weighing in after a fire broke out Wednesday morning inside Chirisa Technology Park, a 104-acre data center complex in Chesterfield County. Chesterfield Fire and EMS said flames were reported just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, and were contained to a single room within the facility. No injuries were reported. Mary Finley-Brook, a University of Richmond professor who studies data centers, said responding to these types of fires poses unique challenges. “Bringing water into an instance like this could cause a lot of harm,” she said. “It is a unique situation that people have to be prepared for.” Milos Manic, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the high-density design of data centers makes them vulnerable to fast-spreading fires. However, he added that data is rarely lost permanently. “Backups are always there, ” he said.
