Chesterfield data center owner says root cause of multiple fires is a ‘manufacturing defect’

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- Days after a Chesterfield County data center caught fire on Monday morning, the owner is now saying the root cause is a "manufacturing defect."

In the morning on Monday, Sept. 8, Chesterfield County Fire and EMS crews responded to a structure fire at Chirisa Technology Park, located at 1401 Meadowville Technology Parkway.

Officials said a fire was contained to a battery room at Chirisa Technology Park by its sprinkler system.

Crews remained on scene throughout the day to control flare-ups, which Chesterfield Fire and EMS said can happen when dealing with fires involving batteries. Fire officials also said fires at data centers like this one are extremely rare.

Chesterfield County Fire and EMS crews respond to fire at room within Chirisa Technology Park on Sept. 8. (Photo: Chesterfield County Fire and EMS)

On Thursday, Sept. 11, the data center’s owner, Chirisa Technology Parks, said in a post that the alert was caused by a "single battery which caught fire." They believe the root cause was a manufacturing defect.

According to data center officials, the fire was contained within the battery cabinet enclosure and extinguished by a fire suppression system.

"Given the possible danger these batteries pose to our facility and employees we will be immediately removing and replacing all batteries with units from a different manufacturer," the data center said.

This comes about three weeks after firefighters responded to a fire inside a room at the same data center on Wednesday, Aug. 20, and also marks the fourth incident at this facility within the last year.