Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At a Class II waste landfill, fire broke out around 2:15 pm on newly-arrived waste originating from household rubbish held in an operating cell. Using a hose, fire-fighters sprinkled the premises for 7 hours and continued monitoring throughout the night. The following afternoon at 2:30, the alarm tripped again with the appearance of smoke releases. Fire-fighters re-sprinkled the wastes without any flames being observed for 3 hours. The wastes were burned on a 1500-m² area of ground. The geomembrane-punching protection system used to seal the dike was destroyed over 600 m² of its surface. A surface gas drainage network pipe was also destroyed over a 100-m length.

The source of this fire remained undetermined. It seems that ignition had occurred in the rubbish received that morning. The Inspection Authorities for Classified Facilities proposed a governmental order requesting that the landfill operator place the site in safe operating mode within 24 hours and organise operations to avoid any additional environmental impact. The operator was given a week to submit an accident report containing: an environmental impact assessment; a precise estimation of damage to installations, especially to the geomembrane-punching protection system; and a proposal of remedial works stipulating the planned solutions introduced and their verifications. These proposals needed to be presented to the Inspection Authorities prior to execution. Moreover, the operator was asked to provide a works completion report.