That's so crazy to me that it could even be allowed after an inspection for a certificate of occupancy. I worked for a company that leased space in a very corporate filled with laywers/finance type of tennants, but this company, a video post house, was very much not either of those. The building kept requiring expense after expense (partly in hopes of making it so expensive they'd choose to go somewhere else). Part of these expenses were that all cabling had to be run through conduit including CAT5, phone cabling, 75ohm coax video cables. In the room that doubled as the machine room and small data center, they required smoke detectors every 6 feet.
And these knuckleheads got to build one in what sounds like a wooden hut with no electrical cut off? Sheesh!
What does nobody living in the datacenter have to do with the price of tea in China?
In order to receive a CO in the US, an inspection has to be done to show that the build was done according to the plans on file. Part of that is a fire safety plan. You have to show max occupancy for any room in the space. That max number is determined by the size of the room, the number of egress points, the size of the doors, etc. Then the fire marshal sends a rep to insepct everything.
So just from all of that exeprience, it has nothing to do with people living there and surprised me that it is not done in a similar fashion in the EU
A datacenter, esp. when you store the UPS batteries near, is a ticking dirty bomb. Many of the systems have rechargeable batteries (UPS batteries & RAID controllers' battery backup), a lot of rare earth metals which release toxic fumes when burnt, etc.
It's extremely hard to extinguish a full-blown electrical fire, backed by UPS batteries and other nasty chemicals and supported by a multi-megawatt power connection.
You don't need to harm people directly. The fumes' effects are enough of an hazard for people already.
That's why the fire at the OVH dc took so long to extinguish. They had to stay away for hours and get boats to provide more water. Sure there were toxic gases, but I'm not aware of people being harmed by it, especially with no one living anywhere close.
And these knuckleheads got to build one in what sounds like a wooden hut with no electrical cut off? Sheesh!