Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

Fire broke out at 5 am in one of the ovens of an industrial bakery employing 400 workers. The fire then spread to 4 other ovens while emitting very heavy smoke.

Fire-fighters from 6 stations protected the refrigeration installation reservoirs, containing 8,000 l of ammonia (NH3). A 300-m safety perimeter was set up; 500 local residents were first asked to remain indoors with doors and windows closed but then ultimately evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the eventual leak of a refrigerant. The disaster plan was activated at the level of the entire province. The wind further complicated the emergency intervention. The fire was eventually brought under control at 11:45 am; 15 min later, the residents were allowed to return home.

2/3 of the building was destroyed and the cost of damages amounted to several million Euros. The 400 employees were all made temporarily redundant; a portion of the production activity nonetheless resumed in other company plants.

A leak in the fuel line feeding the oven under repair caused this accident. The fire was then able to quickly spread due to the absence of sprinklers. Two comparable cases involving industrial bakeries without a sprinkler system destroyed by fire had been catalogued in France in 2006 and 2007 (ARIA 33299 and 31760). On the other hand, in 2006 in the United Kingdom, just a single sprinkler head was sufficient to control a blaze following a fuel leak at an industrial bakery, whose consequences were limited to a 15-min production loss (ARIA 35452). This facility had installed its network of sprinklers during rebuilding subsequent to previous fire damage.