A violent fire that sent thick plumes of smoke into the air broke out at around 8:00 p.m. in a 15,000 m² building of a fruit co-op located along the A11 motorway. The co-op treated and packaged apples. A 14,000 m² containerboard mill located 40 m away was subjected to high thermal radiation. The co-op was located less than 100 m away from housing blocks and the fire could be seen from 40 km away. The alert was raised by a person not connected with the co-op. The maintenance manager arrived at the scene at 8:15 p.m. and cut off the site’s electricity supply. The fire was a complex one, requiring a total of 121 fire-fighters and 42 fire trucks to battle it. In addition to the fire’s massive scale, only one side of the building was accessible and there were outdoor storage facilities, large amounts of combustible materials (wood), cylinders of refrigerant, sandwich panels with polyurethane foam cores, a large amount of plenum space under an unprotected metal framework. A safety cordon was put up and traffic on the motorway was halted. Employees of the co-op evacuated a stockpile of stackable wooden crates (800 m² by 6 m in height) near the refrigerated warehouses. Fourteen 60-kg cylinders of R-22 refrigerant stored on site by the refrigeration technician were doused with water then recovered by the thermorefrigeration company. The fire was contained at 6:00 a.m. and the fire-fighters left at 11:00 a.m. on 4 April. The mayor, the water utility and an operational risk-prevention unit arrived at the scene. More than 80% of the refrigerated warehouses collapsed (only seven cold rooms were undamaged) and the outside areas were littered with waste from the fire. A total of 2,000 tonnes of apples was either lost or no longer suitable for consumption. The pre-calibration shop and packaging lines were shut down indefinitely; 40 employees were temporarily laid off. Only 1/10th (250 kg) of the R-22 refrigerant used was spared from the flames. All the R-407C was destroyed. The black and highly odorous extinguishing water could not be contained on the site because it was impossible to reach the building before the flames were brought under control. This water flowed into a pond immediately downstream of the plant and next to the motorway. It was analysed (pH 7) and then discharged into the natural environment. Although the co-op was located just 800 m away from the fire station, it was not on the fire-fighters’ list of facilities. According to the operator, this was the first incident in the company’s 45-year history. A security company was hired to monitor the site. The authorities shut down the co-op pending the implementation of emergency measures decided following the fire: clean-up of the site, analysis of the causes and circumstances of the accident, analysis and treatment of the extinguishing water, mapping and quantification of possible soil/groundwater pollution (smoke close to the ground, seepage of extinguishing water, etc.), studies of units that may have been indirectly affected (domino effects), preventive and curative work and retrofitting required to make the site safe (asbestos, etc.), assessment and implementation of measures to prevent such an accident recurring before a possible resumption of operations. The buildings were demolished and the waste was taken away. According to a court-appointed expert interviewed by the press, an electric arc near a cold room reportedly caused the false ceilings to fall and ignite. The site was protected by a fire and intrusion alarm system that was linked to the managers’ smartphones. It was also monitored remotely by a private security firm. However, the central station did not work and seems to have been knocked out of commission by lightning a few days earlier. A year later, the site was rebuilt 30 km away. All the new buildings are fitted with an automatic fire detection system. They also have automatic sprinkler systems, except for parts of the low-oxygen storage facilities. The storage rooms and the cold rooms are separated by firewalls. The new buildings cost a total of €11 million, of which €460,000 was spent on the sprinkler system alone.