Fire broke out on a 10-tonne heap of crushed cars stripped of their metal content, at an industrial waste treatment centre. This pile was being stored while awaiting a second treatment intended to remove the “stainless steel” part before discharge at a Class II burial facility. Since the site had not retained a supervisory or watchman service, a local resident notified the emergency services about 2:30 pm. Fire-fighters spread the pile, watered its contents and finally extinguished the fire at 4:30. The burnt materials were mainly rubber and plastic.

Afterwards, a monitoring video showed that a white smoke was being released from the pile as of noon, giving way an hour later to a thickening black smoke. According to the operator, the fire was caused by heating inside the pile of cars due to a previous sorting with a trace remainder of hydrocarbon and oil.

This was the 4th accident within 5 months at the site. A report was filed for failing to declare the accident to the classified facilities inspectorate, as well as for a lack of supervision during business closing hours and an absence of storage zone delimitation. The operator was also required to update the facility’s safety report to incorporate the ignition of waste heaps, as its previous safety report dating from 2004 only addressed the arson risk.