Lincoln Fire and Rescue officials say a water leak at the Windstream data center near 14th and ‘O’ Street led to a fire that disrupted 911 service for several hours in southeast Nebraska over the weekend.
LFR Public Information Officer MJ Lierman says crews were initially called for a fire alarm around 11:15 Friday night. Firefighters made their way to the electrical room in the basement that had been indicated on the panel. It was marked with a high voltage warning signal. When the crews opened the door, heavy black smoke poured out of the door and flames were seen near the floor.
Due to high voltage warnings, they used the dry chem and CO2 extinguishers quickly knockdown the fire that was coming from an office chair that had been in the room. LFR worked to ventilate the building and turned it back over to to maintenance and LES.
The fire inspector found water that had leaked into the room onto the switches , which caused a small explosion inside the room. The damage is estimated at $200,000 and no injuries were reported.
While the fire broke out late Friday night, 911 services in Southeast Nebraska weren’t impacted until early Saturday evening.