Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

A fire broke out on a Friday afternoon at around 4:30 p.m. in a recycling company in the firm’s 8,000 m² waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) storage building. The waste there consisted of small household appliances, plastics from dismantling and hazardous waste (batteries, capacitors, cartridges, etc.). A technician noticed smoke, sounded the alarm and tried to intervene with a fire hose, but the flames spread quickly due to the large quantity of plastic materials present. The operator evacuated the site.

As the operator had not actuated the smoke extraction system, the emergency services had difficulty accessing the affected area due to the density of the smoke inside the building. The water supply was pumped from the Oise River. The site was closed off by a guillotine valve and by an inflatable bladder. A second inflatable bladder was installed near an area undergoing non-hermetic work. To limit the risk of pollution in the Oise River, the extinguishing water was pumped from the retention basin, which had reached saturation, to the 3 basins at the site’s former wastewater treatment plant.

A large plume of black smoke, visible from more than 10 km away, was released and drifted over the residential areas. Seven people were evacuated and relocated while traffic to the surrounding area was halted. Measurements were taken to assess the toxicity of the smoke. The smoke was irritating but determined to be non-toxic. When the smoke cooled, the plume dropped to roughly chest height. New gas measurements (CO, HCN and SOx) were conducted, and blood samples were collected from the residents. One person was taken to the hospital.

The next morning, the building was unloaded using a crane to facilitate the intervention. The waste was spread out and covered with foam. The excavation and extinguishing operations lasted until the following day, and rounds were organised to monitor the area.

Consequences

Four employees were slightly intoxicated.

The WEEE storage building was destroyed and the 292 t of waste stored were caught up in the fire.

The 10,000 m³ of extinguishing water used during the operation was collected in the retention basin. On the other hand, the inflatable bladder positioned near the area under construction did not resist, allowing some of the extinguishing water to infiltrate this scouring area.

The plume left fine particle deposits in the soil.

Follow-up

An emergency prefectural order was issued:

  • the site’s facilities were secured (surveillance, access prohibited);
  • restart of the WEEE storage and treatment activity was subject to the restoration/adaptation of an existing building with the implementation of measures to prevent a similar event from occurring;
  • the WEEE present at the site and not affected by the fire were removed to an authorised installation;
  • the waste generated by the accident was placed in storage in a hermetic area awaiting removal for subsequent treatment;
  • an environmental impact study of the accident was conducted (assessment, through a sampling plan, of the nature and quantities of decomposition products released into the atmosphere, released into the aquatic environment and deposited in the soil).

Causal analysis

The origin of the accident remains unknown. The fire started with a batch of WEEE waiting to be disposed of. This waste was stored in concrete crates, but the height of the waste stored extended above the height of the crates’ walls.