In an automotive parts surface treatment plant, a fire broke out at around 7.30 am in a pickling bath containing 2,000 l of hydrochloric acid. Despite the workshop manager’s actions with internal emergency equipment, the fire spread through the polypropylene ventilation ducts to 4,500 of the 10,000 m² of the building. A substantial plume of black smoke was released; traffic on the RN 205 was stopped and a speed limit was enforced on the A 40. The public emergency services brought the fire under control at around 9.30 am using 6 variable flow nozzles (5 x 250 l/min + 1 x 1,000 l/min).

One of the 2 firefighters, who received slight burns from the chemical substances during the operation, was treated in hospital. The material damage was significant: the roof of the glue-laminated framed workshop had partly collapsed and 3 treatment lines were destroyed. Most of the fire extinguishing water was contained in a retention area; however some of it and an organic finishing product flowed into the CHAMBERON stream then subsequently into the ARVE river, probably due to the clogging of a collection drain with fire debris. Representatives of the French Higher Fishing Council and the Water Police Service noted no visible trace of pollution; as a precaution, sampling and analyses were carried out.

An electrical failure may have caused the fire. Technical unemployment measures were planned for around forty of the establishment’s 192 employees. The French military police carried out an investigation.