Fire insiders raise alarm about Melbourne’s data centre expansion

• Extreme Fire Risks: Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) insiders warn that the rapid expansion of massive data centres in Melbourne’s west poses an unmitigated threat, as a thermal runaway event in their expansive lithium-ion battery banks could ignite millions of litres of on-site backup diesel fuel.
• Regulatory & Training Gaps: Emergency personnel claim they lack the specialised heavy-duty foam systems, atmospheric monitoring equipment, and training required to combat a major data centre chemical blaze, pointing to a critical lack of consultation during the planning stages.
• Push for Veto Power: While developers emphasize adherence to national building codes, community groups and fire authorities are demanding stricter zoning laws and legislative reforms that would give emergency services statutory power to audit or veto high-risk tech infrastructure.

Insiders within Victoria’s fire authority have revealed concerns about an influx of large-scale data centres in Melbourne’s west, calling for greater oversight due to the facilities’ significant volumes of diesel and lithium-ion batteries.

Three members of Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), who are familiar with data centre planning applications and spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said they were concerned about the centres’ complex fire risk, FRV’s lack of authority over planning applications and the need for specialised training in case of emergency.

They specifically cited the risk of thermal runaway, a phenomenon where lithium-ion batteries undergo an uncontrollable chemical reaction that produces significant amounts of heat, resulting in the release of highly toxic fumes and an intense, self-sustaining fire.

“Firefighters are pretty well practised in dealing with your bread-and-butter sort of fire — house fires, factory fires,” one FRV member said.

“If we’re looking at thermal runaway … it’s not how long’s a piece of string. It’s a very complicated response.

“The combination of lithium batteries and diesel is a pretty nasty sort of fire.”Experts warn AI data centres could keep fossil fuels online

A new report concludes the AI-fuelled surge of power-hungry data centres across Australia is jeopardising the country’s energy transition.

It …

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Original article and photo by "ABC News"