Fire broke out on a stockpile of wood pallets inside the enclosure, but outside the buildings, of a factory manufacturing metal racks and storage components (20,000 m², built on a 4-ha parcel). The watchman on his night rounds just before 2 am notified fire-fighters. The blaze spread very quickly to an adjacent pallet storage building, then to production workshops and some of the finished products storage buildings (containing both metal and plastic filing cabinets). Some 100 fire-fighters controlled the outbreak after a 4-hour battle, in deploying 17 hoses and using 1200 m³ of water extracted from 2 fire hydrants and the LOIR River, which ran along the factory boundary. No victims were reported and the river was apparently spared any pollution. Property damage was extensive: 8000 m² of buildings destroyed, and 4000 m² of roof deteriorated by the hot gases. The paint booths sustained damage, though the paint barrels could be removed from workshops upon initial fire detection. The storage space for these paints and a 13-tonne propane cistern was protected by fire-fighters sprinkling the premises. The surface treatment installations were destroyed (degreasing-phosphate tunnel), but the treatment baths could be preserved in the retention basins and internal sewer network, which was closed by a valve once fire-fighters arrived on-site (presence of a maintenance department manager). The uncasing of loading platforms served to confine the extinction water at another part of the site. All polluted water was discharged to a specialised handling facility. The factory’s 90 employees were made redundant, and the operator planned to quickly demolish the damaged buildings in order to rebuild new installations.