At a paper mill, a fire broke out at around 5:30 am in a 400 m² bulk paper unit of a building storing 7,000 t of recyclable paper (bulk, bales and rolls). Unlike the rest of the installation, this 9,600 m² metal-framed building was not equipped with an automatic fire extinguishing system. An internal response team of 4 people started to fight the fire and was then joined by around sixty fire-fighters. The fire was controlled but new outbreaks of fire were noted in neighbouring boxes. The emergency services focused their intervention on spraying the stocks of bulk paper, taking all bales and rolls outside the building (using 6 forklift trucks) and opening 100 m² of roofing to evacuate the smoke. The fire was controlled at around 11 am, but the site remained under surveillance for 48 hours. A network of fire hydrants on an internal supply around the periphery of the unit allowed for the rapid deployment of fire hoses available in the establishment.

However, the storage building was partially damaged and 1,400 t of paper were destroyed. Several trusses and part of the building’s roof had to be replaced. Production was stopped for a very short time and there were no temporary lay-offs of staff. The fire extinguishing water was channelled towards the establishment’s treatment station. The fire may have been started by sparks (friction of a forklift truck’s forks on the ground) or by a fire brought in from the scrap paper transformation workshop.

Several analyses are underway within the company and concern: changing the fire protection equipment (elimination of “solid jet” hoses), reorganisation of storage areas inside the building (higher separation walls, wide aisles, etc.), installation of an automatic detection system for the scrap paper at the processing workshop exit, staff training on the deployment and use of fire hoses, as well as on how to specifically fight paper bale and roll fires.