French media covered this earlier in March, but I didn't see the english
language reporting until now.
https://www.journaldunet.com/web-tech/cloud/1509749-enquete-sur-l-incendie-d-ovh-des-conclusions-accablantes/
OVH has not released its own report about the fire at its SBG2 datacenter
on March 10, 2021. The Bas-Rhin fire service, the local responding fire
service, issued its report this month.
- absence of an automatic fire extinguishing system on the site
- a wooden ceiling with a "fireproof" capacity of only one hour with
non-insulated technical ducts.
- the two interior courtyards acted as fire chimneys
- absence of a general electrical cut-off device
- Electricité de Strasbourg, the site's electricity supplier, arrived on
the scene at 1:20 a.m., but its teams "encountered difficulties in
cutting off the electricity."
- The site's power supply will be effectively disconnected at 03:28. "At
this time, current is still present in the inverters (designed to take
over in the event of a cut, editor's note)", specify the firefighters in
their report.
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ovhcloud-fire-report-sbg2-data-center-had-wooden-ceilings-no-extinguisher-and-no-power-cut-out/
Update: In response to a request from DCD, OVHcloud said that it could not
respond in detail to the fire report, as it is still working with its
insurers and government agencies on a formal report. The company did point
out that the fire report is not from a data center expert, but was not
able to give a date for when its own report would be released.
