Fire broke out around 1:30 pm on the decanting chain occupying 300sq.m at one of a fuel wholesaler’s 2 packaging workshops. The company was mixing and packaging fuel for 2-step motors. The 2 onsite technicians were unable to control the outbreak, which spread to the 1,000sq.m of workshop space containing 1,200 litres of fuel (2 pallets of jugs) and 1,200 litres of oil (6 barrels). All 11 employees evacuated the site and a 150-m safety perimeter was set up.

57 fire-fighters were mobilised and using 6 water nozzles and 2 foam nozzles had the blaze contained in 90 min; 2 fire-fighters were slightly injured. The quality of this emergency response, as well as the presence of 2-hour fire walls and 30-min fire doors, prevented flames from spreading to an adjoining room storing 30,000 litres of fuel (packaged in 2 and 5-litre jugs). To protect against any resumption of fire during the following night, 2 nozzles remained operational in order to maintain a foam blanket. The next morning, a specialised firm demolished the walls at risk of collapse. An electrical malfunction caused this incident: technicians heard a crackling noise shortly before the fire outbreak. The extinction water was channelled into a settling tank-oil separator, which had not been designed to handle the heavy flows produced by fire nozzles, resulting in hydrocarbons entering the public wastewater network (though no water pollution was recorded). Four employees were made redundant. Police and local elected officials inspected the site.