The January 9, 2015 fire at 21263 Smith Switch Road 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 said welding roof components ignited stored roofing materials. The fire was largely confined to the roof and construction materials, and AWS said the unfinished facility was not in production and did not affect operations.
What caused the Amazon data center construction fire in Ashburn?
The Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the fire was accidental. The county described the cause as “the welding of roof structure components from inside the structure, which ignited nearby combustibles (stored roofing materials).” In practical terms, hot work inside the unfinished building ignited roofing supplies stored nearby.
What happened on January 9, 2015?
Loudoun County began receiving reports of a structure fire at about 10:12 a.m. Responders found fire on the roof of a large data center under construction at 21263 Smith Switch Road in Ashburn. About 100 personnel responded. The bulk of the fire was under control around 11:20 a.m.
The county said the fire was confined to the roof, roofing, and other construction materials rather than spreading through an operating data-center interior.
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Workers and firefighters
Roof workers evacuated safely
Workers who were on the roof escaped and were reported uninjured.
Two firefighters were taken for checkout
Two firefighters were transported to a local hospital after rehabilitation for medical checkout. The county release did not report diagnoses or identify any confirmed injuries.
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Was this an AWS outage?
No. Contemporary reporting quoted an AWS spokeswoman saying the site was a data center under construction by a third-party contractor, not a production facility. Her statement was: “It was not a production facility and caused no impact or risk of impact to operations.”
That distinction matters: the incident involved a building being constructed for Amazon in the Ashburn area, before the facility entered production. It was not a fire at an operating AWS data center and was not reported as an AWS service outage.
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Damage estimate and limits of the reports
The contractor estimated damage at $75,000–$100,000, according to the Loudoun County account. That figure is an incident-specific contractor estimate, not a broader measure of data-center fire damage.
The immediate reports establish the response, official cause finding, worker evacuation, firefighter transports, and estimated damage. They do not establish when the facility was later completed, its subsequent operating history, or any later inspection findings connected to this fire.
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Incident facts at a glance
| Item | Reported detail |
|---|---|
| Date | January 9, 2015 |
| Location | 21263 Smith Switch Road, Ashburn, Virginia |
| Facility status | Data center under construction; not a production facility |
| Official cause | Welding roof-structure components ignited stored roofing materials |
| Fire boundary | Roof, roofing, and construction materials |
| Reports received | About 10:12 a.m. |
| Bulk of fire controlled | About 11:20 a.m. |
| Response | Approximately 100 personnel |
| Worker outcome | Roof workers escaped; reported uninjured |
| Firefighter medical response | Two transported to a local hospital for checkout; diagnoses not stated |
| Estimated damage | $75,000–$100,000, estimated by the contractor |
| Operational impact | AWS said there was no impact or risk of impact to operations |
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