A series of 3 explosions occurred around 20h15 at a chemical storage depot. About 4 000 people were evacuated from nearby housing when large quantities of smoke were blown in their direction.

The source of ignition was radiant heat from a domestic electric fire (probably due to wet clothing being dried overnight within the locker room) which ignited combustible materials. The fire then spread through packaging materials to a lpg cylinder and numerous stored chemicals, including sodium chlorate. Three explosions (the gas bottle and drums of sodium chlorate) caused minor damage to residential properties 200 m away. The costs of the damage were estimated at 200 000 pounds.