ABBOTT, Texas (KXXV) — The community of Abbott could soon have two data centers in their neighborhood just a few miles apart.
- The Abbott Volunteer Fire Department has 20 volunteer firefighters.
- The department needs over $1M dollars to tackle a data center fire.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I don't think we have the capabilities of containing it," said John Hanson, volunteer firefighter for the Abbott Volunteer Fire Department.
And John Hanson would know this. He’s been a firefighter with the Abbott Volunteer Fire Department for a few years.
He knows they’re not ready to tend to a data center. But it comes down to this.
“I don’t think we can do that. I don’t think we have the water resources to do that. You’d have to have a tank every minute dumping into a dump tank…filling another truck every minute, and that’s physically impossible," said Hanson.
The president of the Abbott Volunteer Fire Department puts the issue into perspective.
“Just for basic firefighting for an industrial fire is 2,000 gallons per minute. This truck here is a 3,000-gallon tanker. We would need to be able to dump one of these per minute to be able to fight a fire at a small data center," said Addilee Strickland, president of Abbott Volunteer Fire Department.
Strickland said with 20 volunteer firefighters to support Abbott, a city of roughly 470 residents could possibly have two data centers in town. One just behind the fire department and another coming a few miles away from the local school.
According to Pew Research, 42% of Americans live within five miles of an existing or planned data center.
Her concerns range far beyond water resources. She said they lack the necessary equipment.
“For data centers, the equipment we would need is at least two ladder trucks. The only places we could get ladder trucks is West or Hillsboro. Municipal departments have multiple ladder trucks; they have multiple fire suppression units in their departments that are capable of fighting these fires for aerial firefighting…we do not have those capabilities," said Strickland.
She said in addition to that, the fire department would have nowhere to store a ladder truck. They would need an entirely new building. But their current trucks aren’t the latest either. One truck is about 25 years old, and for the other trucks, it’s hard to find parts because some aren’t made anymore.
The volunteer firefighters would also need training to tackle a fire at a data center. But there’s no doubt that it could be dangerous.
"Honestly, it would be a detrimental impact," said Hanson.
The Abbott Volunteer Fire Department has not heard from the data centers coming to town about whether they plan to support them financially.
