Resilience in Adversity: Karrakatta Cemetery’s UPS Survives Fire

State: Western Australia
Date: October 2024

Karrakatta Cemetery faced a catastrophic fire that caused over $1 million in damage, destroying essential infrastructure and raising concerns about power reliability. The PMU20 UPS, installed just two years earlier, was exposed to intense heat, thick smoke, and conductive soot. Despite this, the UPS demonstrated exceptional resilience and continued to operate without compromising its performance.

A fire of this scale can lead to electrical failure, corrosion, and contamination, potentially rendering critical backup systems useless. For the cemetery, ensuring continued power protection was essential, as a UPS failure could disrupt lighting, security systems, and other operational necessities.

PSS Distributors acted quickly to assess the PMU20 UPS, ensuring it remained fully functional despite the fire damage. Our expert team carried out:

• A full internal inspection, identifying areas impacted by soot accumulation and potential damage to electrical components.
• Comprehensive deep cleaning and decontamination, removing smoke residue to prevent long-term corrosion and circuit failure.
• Performance testing and recalibration, verifying that the UPS could still deliver reliable backup power under load conditions.
  

The UPS’s robust design and our proactive servicing approach ensured that it could continue protecting essential systems, even after severe exposure to environmental hazards.

Despite facing extreme fire exposure, the PMU20 UPS was successfully restored to full operational status, proving its durability and resilience. No major component replacements were required, as PSS’ servicing mitigated the effects of heat, soot, and smoke contamination.

With regular 12-month servicing, the UPS continues to provide reliable power for Karrakatta Cemetery, keeping critical infrastructure protected against future incidents.

• UPS survived a severe fire and remained fully operational.
• Major servicing restored full functionality despite exposure to smoke and soot.
• Ongoing preventive maintenance ensures long-term power reliability.
  

PSS Distributors provides robust UPS solutions engineered to withstand harsh environments and protect critical infrastructure. Our range includes the PMU-T 10-100KVA On-Line 3 phase UPS, the Master UPS (10-25kVA) for high-capacity backup, and the Modular UPS for scalable resilience.

Contact us today to learn more about our uninterrupted power supply products, accessories, and services. Let us know how we can help you.