{
  "id": 19518938,
  "title": "How a false smoke alarm almost drowned Jane Street's only NYC datacenter",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/11/how-a-false-smoke-alarm-almost-drowned-jane-streets-only-nyc",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-11T16:27:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Lobsters",
    "slug": "lobsters",
    "url": "https://michael.bacarella.com/2026/11/10/false-smoke-alarm-jane-street-datacenter/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Jane Street's lone datacenter on Jane Street Street in Manhattan was in peril when a false smoke alarm threatened to flood the facility. This critical infrastructure housed servers, UPS units, CRAC coolers, network switches, and backup diesel generators, all squeezed into the heart of a skyscraper. A real estate agent had convinced the reporter to move into a studio apartment just a 9-minute walk from the office, making it convenient to respond to emergencies. One evening, the reporter's phone rang from his Hong Kong office, informing him of a smoke alarm activation in the New York datacenter. The alarm was set off due to dust kicked up during renovation work, but the situation could have turned disastrous if left unchecked. The sprinkler system, designed to suppress fires, would activate only if the smoke alarm signaled heat. In this case, the alarm had not triggered the sprinklers, as there was no real fire. However, the smoke alarm itself had a dangerous feature: it shut down the CRAC units, responsible for cooling the server room. Shutting down the cooling would cause temperatures to rise rapidly, potentially triggering the sprinklers and causing extensive damage. The reporter raced back to the datacenter, pulling the power cord on each device to prevent the temperature from climbing further and avoid a catastrophic failure of the datacenter.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "False smoke alarm threatened Jane Street datacenter",
    "Dust from renovation caused alarm activation",
    "Reporter prevented cooling shutdown and disaster"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}