• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 9, 2022

Google Search briefly experienced complications from a nearby electrical fire that lead to longer page-load times, errors, and empty search results.

An electrical fire at a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, injuring three electricians working on a substation close to the data center. The electric explosion caused a Google Search outage and several other issue.

The incident occurred at 11:59 a.m. local time on Monday, the Council Bluffs Police Department told SF Gate.

One person was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, while two more were transported by ambulance. 

“We are aware of an electrical incident that took place today at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, injuring three people onsite who are now being treated," a Google spokesperson told SFGate. "The health and safety of all workers is our absolute top priority, and we are working closely with partners and local authorities to thoroughly investigate the situation and provide assistance as needed."

Fourteen of Google's 23 global data centers are located in the United States. The Council Bluffs location, which opened in 2009, is one of Google's largest. 

Google Search briefly experienced an issue that led to longer page load times, errors, and empty search results.

An increase in reported issues began around 6 p.m. PT, spiking around 6:30, according to DownDetector.

9to5Google initially identified the outage. Those affected by the issue would see a 500 Internal Error or 502 Error when trying to perform a search. Others received nothing, just a blank page. Google’s home page took longer to load for some, but websites were effected more by not loading at all. 

"In the minutes leading up to the errors appearing, some members of our team noted fairly straightforward Google Search queries taking nearly two seconds to complete, versus the usual sub-one-second response time." reported 9to5Google.

Google Search issues have been resolved, according to DownDetector, which reports an incident when the number of problem reports is significantly higher than the typical volume for that time of day.