At around 8:30 pm, fire broke out at a chemical plant in a biofuel unit flare during diester production involving the transesterification of vegetable oil by methanol. The installation was secured by means of shutting off both the methanol and gas supply lines. Fire-fighters brought the blaze under control within roughly 10 minutes. The consequences were limited to the flare despite the tremendous heat flow generated; the instrumentation and low-voltage section were destroyed, and the metal parts (pipelines, supporting structures) also sustained damage. The unit located 80 m away was shut down for several weeks and about 10 employees had to be made redundant. Vegetation was charred within a 20-m radius around the flare. A malfunction in the automated raw material loading process (oil, methanol, catalyst) has caused this accident; the reactor and all associated component (condenser, external pipes, buffer tank upstream of the flare, etc.) became filled with the reaction mixture. Though activated by the high level alarm, the transfer pump was unable to lower the buffer tank level and prevent the mixture from entering the transfer line heading towards the liquid methanol flare, which subsequently ignited. Multiple safety device failures and deficiencies were to blame, including: surpassing the very high level failed to trigger the installation security procedure, as just a single control station alarm was tripped; loading station malfunctions went undetected; and control room operator response was considerably slowed due to a lack of proper training.