A fire broke out at 2:30 pm in a packaging manufacturing plant, on an external stock of 400 t of bulk cardboard waste and spread to a 400 t cluster of bales of cardboard. The employees fought the fire in vain using fire extinguishers and called the public emergency services at 2:40 pm. Around forty fire-fighters were soon at the scene (2:46 p.m), and conducted a major operation (6 pump-and-tank wagons and 13 hoses). The mayor and the inspection authorities for classified facilities were notified at 3:10 pm. Supported by the operator’s human and equipment resources (excavators, dump trucks for the bulk product and flat-bed lorries for the bales), the emergency services intervened in 3 stages: firstly extinguishing and excavating the 2 storage and protection areas of adjoining buildings, secondly, removing the debris using loaders to a buffer area and thirdly, transferring the debris by lorry to an area located 400 m away for their final extinguishing. It took 24 hours to completely extinguish the fire. A fire-fighter suffered from smoke inhalation during his intervention. The operator has implemented a monitoring system for the piles of burned waste. Part of the fire extinguishing water was channelled into the plant’s settling tank, and the rest was discharged into the municipal sewers.