In a chemical plant, fire broke out on one of the two fluidised bed drying lines of the synthetic rubber manufacturing unit, causing a plume of smoke to form. Only the tunnel, where the “popcorn” of extruded rubber was dried and advanced on a vibrating conveyor, was involved in this incident. The detection of high temperatures inside the box resulted in: the automatic shutdown of the rubber supply, stoppage of the fans, closure of the flaps, and injection of extinguishing vapour. This proved however insufficiently effective, and the fire spread throughout the entire tunnel. Fire-fighters were called to the scene; the fire did not spread to the workshop and was brought under control within 30 minutes.

The smoke generated by burning rubber affected two members of the response crew. Property damage was limited to the drying tunnel, and fire extinction water was diverted to an “event basin”. Production was stopped, and production waste was collected and sent to a recycling line for low-quality rubber.

According to preliminary results of the investigation, mechanical friction of the vibration system caused the accident. Verification of the design of the workshop’s vapour extinction and smoke extraction system was scheduled to be conducted.