In a waste sorting plant, a fire broke out at around 11.30 am on an uncovered concreted NHIW/cardboard (1,500 m²) storage area. An employee noticed smoke coming from the stock of NHIW. While the emergency services arrived on site at around 12.05 pm, the staff removed the maximum amount of equipment from that area (bins, trucks, cranes, etc.). At 2 pm, 300 m² of building had caught fire and 500 m² of offices were threatened. The violent fire threatened to spread to other buildings storing 3,000 l of fuel oil, 2,000 l of engine oil, 2,000 l of hydraulic oil and a significant stock of batteries. At 3.50 pm, the fire was contained and the air analyses on site were 6 ppm of ammonia and 1.3 ppm of chlorine. Risk of the fire spreading was high due to the site’s location in a forest area and the presence of a swirling wind. At around midnight, fog accompanied with a pungent smell hovered over Montargis. The air analyses carried out following a number of telephone calls indicated an insignificant concentration of ammonia between 3 and 6 ppm. The entire emergency response time was 60 hours. The 400 m³ fire reserve was insufficient and had to be refilled from a fire hydrant located 1.5 km from the site. The 180 t of waste were burned. Despite the measures taken, significant material damage was caused (0.53 million euros). The fire extinguishing water was contained in the storm basin and the sump pumps were shut down.