The Rock Volunteer Fire Department in Osage County, Oklahoma, has turned down a $250,000 donation from Google tied to a nearby data center development.

As first reported by KTUL, Fire Chief Charley Pearson said that, while the department could use the additional funding, he felt that it was more important to consider public opinion.

Pearson himself had spoken out against the data center project, planned along Highway 97 in Sand Springs near Tulsa, Oklahoma, during city council meetings.

"So for me to take their money, I felt like I was jeopardizing the public’s support. And at the end of the day, they mean more to me than that does," he said, telling KTUL he was offered the donation by Google's representative, Kate Franko.

Google received the necessary approval for the data center project in February of this year. Dubbed "Project Spring," the campus is planned for an 827-acre property located at 5615 OK-97, Sand Springs, OK 74063, and is being developed by White Rose Partners.

It is expected that three data centers will be constructed at the site, with work starting in 2027 and completed by 2029. Google has said it will pay for all required new infrastructure, including a dedicated substation and transmission lines.

It is standard practice among hyperscalers to invest in local communities alongside their data center projects, hoping to incentivise local areas to accept the potentially large and lengthy works that are to be undertaken. Many offer support to local fire services unaccustomed to dealing with potential blazes at data centers.

DCD has contacted Google for comment.

Update -

A Google spokesperson told DCD: "We have tremendous gratitude for the work that volunteer fire departments, hospitals and schools do every day to support our communities. We know these essential organizations rely on digital technology -- whether it's first responders using Google Maps for navigation or teachers building lessons for students. Because our data centers power these very tools, we see this support as a natural extension of our commitment to, and appreciation for, the essential services supporting Sand Springs."

Original story resumes -

While the Rock Volunteer Fire Department may be planning to stand firm by its principles, with Pearson noting he had discussed the donation with the department's board of directors, Pearson himself noted that part of his concern about the project was the potential safety concerns of having increased traffic in the area, and thus the potential for more accidents.

Some data center projects have reportedly had to lean heavily on emergency services at times. Amazon data centers in Jerome Township, Ohio, were said in September 2025 to have necessitated some 84 calls to firefighters since their approval in 2021 - some two calls per month.

Google has big plans for the state as a whole. In August 2025, Google revealed it planned to invest $9 billion in expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in Oklahoma.

The company has an existing campus in Pryor, which was announced by Google in 2007 and launched in 2011. It has been expanded at regular intervals since.

Google was also confirmed as the applicant for the Stillwater data center campus in March 2025. Set on 400 acres of land, at the time it was said to see up to $3bn in investment. Details about the campus remain unclear, but a draft economic development plan from August 2024 suggested up to six buildings and that the data centers will span 300,000 square feet (28,870 sqm) each, with a data center per phase of construction.