Fire broke out in a plastic part metallisation plant. Thick black smoke rose above the site. First responders deployed an important fire-fighting arsenal, and a chemical emergency squad was called in. Police forces confined the population within a 500-m zone, and the plant’s 40 employees (one of whom was injured) were evacuated.

The fire began inside a plastic parts storage room before spreading to the adjacent building housing surface treatment line no. 1. Fire-fighters were able to save the building containing surface treatment line no. 2. A 2,500-litre tank filled with a mix of washing product for parts rinsing and a 150-litre tank with a mix of chromic acid and sulphuric acid were both destroyed (they were both composed of resin and neither could resist the heat emitted). Another tank containing chromic acid overflowed. The liquids were collected in the retention basin installed underneath treatment line no. 1 and combined with the contents of the retention basin under surface treatment line no. 2. A portion of the cooling water reached the Malherbe River via runoff. All extinction water was collected through the internal network in the stormwater basin.

Property damage was significant, as the fire had spread to abutting buildings, all of which collapsed due to their metal frame structure covered by asbestos cement sheets (destruction amounted to 3,000 sq.m of the 10,000 sq.m of total building space). Several chemical substances were involved in the fire: 50 tonnes of nitric acid, 20 tonnes of chromic acid, 20 tonnes of soda, 50 tonnes of sulphuric acid, 150 kg of cyanide, and ammoniac. A specialised subcontractor transferred retention basin contents into the 500 cu.m basin, with the extinction water being stored in the former municipal treatment plant. During the extended emergency intervention (lasting 63 hours), one fire-fighter sustained an eye injury and had to be hospitalised. The various retention capacities served to prevent effluent from spilling into the natural environment. Controls indicated no pollution, and the Classified Facilities Inspectorate requested that measurements be recorded at the level of the plant’s connection to the network and moreover that analyses be conducted on treatment plant sludge. Electricity service was not hooked back up. The facility’s activity was shut down and only allowed to resume once the wastes had been cleared and major renovation works completed. Part of the production tool was spared, but 350 employees had to be made laid off.