The January 9, 2015 fire in Ashburn, Virginia, was an accidental construction-site fire, not an outage at an operating Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center. Loudoun County’s Fire Marshal found that welding inside the unfinished building ignited stored roofing materials on the roof. The bulk of the fire was under control at about 11:20 a.m., and AWS said the site was not yet a production facility.
What caused the Amazon data center construction fire in Ashburn?
The Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the cause was accidental. Workers were welding roof-structure components from inside the building, and the work ignited nearby combustibles—specifically stored roofing materials.
The county’s official description states: “The Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office determined the cause of the fire to be accidental due to the welding of roof structure components from inside the structure, which ignited nearby combustibles (stored roofing materials).”
This finding identifies a hot-work ignition involving materials stored at the construction site; it does not describe a failure of an operating data-center system.
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Where and when the fire happened
- Date: Friday, January 9, 2015
- Location: 21263 Smith Switch Road, Ashburn, Virginia
- Site status: A large data center under construction
- Initial reports: Loudoun County began receiving reports at about 10:12 a.m.
Responders found fire on the roof. The county reported that the main fire was confined to the roof, roofing, and construction materials rather than spreading through the completed facility.
How the response unfolded
Approximately 100 personnel responded. The bulk of the fire was brought under control at around 11:20 a.m., according to the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Management.
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Workers and firefighters
- Workers who were on the roof evacuated safely and were reported uninjured.
- Two firefighters were transported to a local hospital for checkout after rehabilitation. The county release did not provide diagnoses.
“Transported for checkout” should not be read as a reported serious injury: the available county account gives no diagnosis for either firefighter.
Was this an AWS outage?
No. AWS told Data Center Knowledge that the building was a data center under construction by a third-party contractor, not a production facility. An AWS spokeswoman said: “It was not a production facility and caused no impact or risk of impact to operations.”
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That makes the incident materially different from a fire or equipment failure at an operating AWS region or availability zone. The contemporaneous reports also placed Corporate Office Properties Trust in the area’s construction context, but the county release does not establish the company’s precise contractual role.
| Question | What the incident record establishes |
|---|---|
| Was the building in production? | No; AWS described it as not a production facility. |
| Was an AWS service outage reported? | No; AWS said there was no impact or risk of impact to operations. |
| What burned? | Roof, roofing materials, and other construction materials were involved. |
| How was the fire classified? | Accidental, caused by welding that ignited stored roofing materials. |
| Were roof workers injured? | No; they evacuated safely and were reported uninjured. |
Damage estimate
The contractor estimated damage at $75,000–$100,000, a figure reported by Loudoun County. It is an incident-specific estimate, not a general estimate for data-center fires, and the available accounts do not provide a later audited total.
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What the reports do—and do not—establish
Established by the immediate reports
- The address, date, response timeline, and approximate number of responders.
- The official accidental-cause finding linking welding to stored roofing materials.
- Containment primarily to the roof and construction materials.
- Safe evacuation of roof workers and hospital checkout for two firefighters.
- A contractor damage estimate of $75,000–$100,000.
- AWS’s statement that the unfinished site had no operational impact or risk of impact.
Not established by these reports
- When the building was later completed or entered service.
- Its subsequent operational history.
- Any later inspection findings or remediation connected to this fire.
The controlling official account is Loudoun County’s January 9, 2015 release, “Fire Damages Data Center while under Construction.” Data Center Knowledge’s contemporaneous reports provide the AWS operational statement and additional construction context.
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