Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At a 4-storey automotive garage equipped with 2 underground fuel tanks with capacities of 3 and 4 m³ in a lined pit, a strong small of petrol is noticed when the 4 m³ tank is being filled. When he checks the volume, the garageman sees that 1200 litres of petrol are missing from the tank. Fire fighters are called to the scene and set up ventilation equipment to aerate the establishment. At around noon, an explosion occurs when the garageman mechanically actuates an electrical switch at the bottom of the staircase leading to the grease pit. The building collapses and the exterior wall falls into the street onto a group of schoolchildren who had stopped to watch the firemen at work. The accident leaves 17 dead, including 3 firemen and 7 children, as well as 30 people injured outside the establishment. The windows of the 7-storey building adjacent to the garage are destroyed. The occupants of this building and other adjacent residences are evacuated and cannot return for several weeks (exact duration unknown) while debris is being cleared and the safety of the buildings is being ensured. Within the established danger zone, electrical power and gas supply is also shut off for an unknown period of time.

Findings indicate that the deflagration was due to the ignition of petrol vapours which had entered the garage from fuel seepage in the ground; the ignition occurred when the electrical switch produced a break spark. Five years earlier, the fuel pumps had been moved without removing the pipes which were obsolete but still connected to the tanks. During work to expand the garage in the basement, work which was still underway when the accident occurred, one of these pipes was cut, which is what caused the fuel seepage at the origin of the vapours. The investigation also revealed that this expansion work had not been the subject of the regulatory authorization requests.

The garage operator is sentenced to a 6-month suspended prison term and fined 1000 NF (i.e. 1400 euros in 2006). A manager of the company that had moved the fuel pumps is fined 500 NF (i.e. 700 euros in 2006). The damages total 683,000 NF (i.e. 965,000 euros at the 2006 value). After the incident, a proposal is made to change the requirements governing “class 3” garages (subject to a declaration under the legislation on classified facilities), requiring garages to install an explosion-proof electrical system in underground rooms, and prohibiting repair shops involving the use of burners (forges, blow torches, etc.).