In a data center, smoke can turn a contained fire into a much larger operational problem. It can spread to connected spaces, affect sensitive electronics, complicate re-entry, and extend disruption beyond the area where the fire started.
That risk increases as facilities become larger, denser, and more complex. Heavy electrical loads, battery systems, extensive cable runs, and cooling infrastructure can all influence how smoke travels through the building and how quickly teams can assess damage after an event.
The International Energy Agency projects that global data center power use will more than double by 2030, with annual growth of about 15%. For design and facilities teams, that growth creates a practical challenge: limiting smoke during an emergency without blocking access, equipment movement, or future layout changes.
Smoke Guard’s deployable fire+smoke curtain systems are designed to provide separation during an alarm event while remaining concealed during daily operations.
Keeping Smoke Out of Server Rooms and Connected Spaces
In a data center, fire is not the only concern. Smoke, heat, corrosive byproducts, and water from suppression activity can damage sensitive electronics, interrupt operations, and delay re-entry after an event.
NFPA 75, the fire protection standard for information technology equipment, addresses the protection of IT equipment and IT equipment areas from fire damage and its associated effects, including smoke, corrosion, heat, and water.
That makes compartmentation an important part of data center planning. Smoke can move through vertical openings, elevator shafts, stairways, service areas, corridors, and other connected spaces. Limiting smoke near the source can help reduce the affected area, support safer evacuation routes, and lower the risk that a single incident causes wider operational disruption.
Coordinating Fire and Smoke Protection Systems
An effective fire and smoke protection strategy depends on multiple systems working together. Detection, suppression, smoke control, firestopping, compartmentation, emergency power, and operating procedures each play a role.
Fire+smoke curtains do not replace sprinklers, dampers, or firestopping. Their value comes from how they are integrated into the full life safety strategy, including alarm activation, sequence of operations, egress planning, inspection access, and authority having jurisdiction requirements.
For data centers, that coordination is especially important. Downtime can have financial, operational, and reputational consequences, so limiting smoke near the source can reduce the area requiring assessment after an event and support a more efficient recovery process.
Protecting Corridors, Elevator Areas, and Open Connections
Fire+smoke curtains provide separation in locations where project teams need it during an emergency without permanently closing off key areas. These may include open stairways, elevator lobbies, equipment access routes, wide corridors, and other connected spaces where both daily movement and emergency separation must be considered.
Smoke Guard offers deployable fire+smoke curtain systems for several opening types that may apply in data center environments. Smoke Guard’s vertical fire+smoke curtain systems can support wall openings, atrium separation, and specialty enclosures where fire-rated protection is needed. Smoke Guard’s horizontal fire curtain systems may apply where project teams need to protect openings between floors or compartmentalize larger open spaces. Smoke Guard’s elevator smoke containment systems can help address smoke and draft opening protection at elevator openings when used with fire-rated elevator doors.
For larger perimeter openings, Smoke Guard’s M4000 Perimeter Fire+Smoke Curtain is a vertically deploying, fire+smoke-rated textile curtain assembly stored above the finished ceiling. When activated by a local smoke detector or fire alarm control panel, the curtain deploys to help limit smoke and flame movement through the opening. The system can protect openings up to 15 feet in drop height, with custom widths up to 200 linear feet.
For data centers, this type of deployable separation can help project teams manage smoke while preserving access, flexibility, and coordination with other life safety systems.
Fixed Walls vs. Deployable Fire+Smoke Curtains
Data centers need open routes for equipment, personnel, maintenance, and future changes. During an emergency, those same open connections can also give smoke a path to move through the building. The comparison below shows how deployable fire+smoke curtains can provide separation during an alarm event without creating the daily constraints of fixed walls and doors.
| The Challenge | Fixed Walls and Doors | Deployable Fire+Smoke Curtains |
| Moving Equipment | Can create permanent pinch points for server racks, carts, and maintenance access. | Retract above the ceiling during daily use, leaving access routes open. |
| Airflow and Cooling | May affect layout flexibility, airflow planning, and access to equipment. | Remain out of the way until deployment is needed as part of the fire and smoke control strategy. |
| Future Layout Changes | Create a far more permanent separation that may limit future modifications. | Allow open layouts during daily use and separation during an alarm event. |
| Design Coordination | Require early coordination with structure, doors, walls, hardware, and circulation routes. | Require early coordination with structure, ceiling space, alarms, power, egress, and maintenance access. |
Designing Around Overhead Infrastructure
Data center ceilings are already crowded with power distribution, fiber pathways, cooling ducts, structural elements, and other building systems. Fire+smoke curtain planning should start early so the curtain assembly, deployment path, alarm integration, and maintenance access are coordinated before field conflicts occur.
Project teams should review:
- Opening size, drop height, and total width
- Alarm integration and sequence of operations
- Egress requirements
- Ceiling conditions, structural support, and MEP clearances
- Access for inspection, testing, and maintenance
- Coordination with smoke control, fire suppression, fire alarm, and firestopping systems
- Requirements from the authority having jurisdiction
- Applicable code and standard requirements, including NFPA 75 and the International Building Code
Early coordination can help reduce conflicts in areas with electrical busways, fiber pathways, cooling systems, containment layouts, and other overhead infrastructure.
Protecting Uptime as Facilities Expand
As data centers support more cloud, AI, and high-density digital infrastructure, building layout and fire protection planning need to work together. The goal is to support life safety, protect sensitive equipment, limit smoke migration, minimize downtime, and help teams restore operations after an incident.
Deployable fire+smoke curtains give design teams another option for managing risk in complex, high-value facilities. When integrated into a coordinated fire and smoke control strategy, they can help data centers balance access, compartmentation, code compliance, and operational continuity without relying solely on permanent physical barriers.
Planning fire and smoke protection for a data center or other high-value building? Contact us to discuss your project or learn more.