A fire was detected at around 12:45 pm on a 100-m² and 5-m high pile of decontaminated and disused cars intended to be crushed in a metal recycling plant. Onsite staff (on lunch break) intervened immediately but failed to extinguish the fire with the means at hand onsite; they then alerted the emergency services. Fire-fighters brought the fire under control within two hours using four variable-flow 500 l/min water cannons, assisted by facility staff, who moved the vehicles with cranes. The fire was extinguished at 2:50 pm; one fire-fighter was slightly injured (sprain) and evacuated by ambulance. The extinction water was passed through a sludge separator before being discharged. According to the operator, the cause of this fire was incandescent matter projected onto the pile of cars during metal-cutting using a blowtorch near the scrap heap before the lunch break. The Classified Facilities Inspectorate required implementation of an onsite retention basin in order to recover fire extinction water as required. Following the accident, the operator prohibited cutting scrap metal in the facility and planned on performing this type of work at another company site with a larger surface area in order to isolate the cutting zone.