A fire broke out at around 10:30 a.m., in a silicon manufacturing plant. The fire started in an outdoor storage area containing 8 pallets of empty big-bags. The flames spread to the furnace smoke filtration system located above the storage area. A plume of black smoke was released and the 50 employees present at the time were evacuated. One of the employees suffered a burn to the arm. Several employees tried to extinguish the fire with fire extinguishers, but the fire continued to grow. The fire brigade arrived and was able to extinguish the fire at around 11:50 a.m. The extinguishing water flowed into the Chantourne canal which flows into the Romanche River. Damage to the filter was significant. One of the 3 furnaces had to be shut down, resulting in an economic loss of 5,000 €/day. The furnace was restarted, at reduced power, 8 days later after the repair and gradual restart of the filter.

The storage area under the filter, where the fire started, was created due to a lack of space and because the filter provided UV protection for certain products. The fire was triggered by incandescent particles from the granulation workshop, located near the filter. The particles had entered through a passageway created under the roof to allow equipment to pass through.

The operator plans to stop using the area under the filters to store combustible materials. A storage tent has since been installed. The opening between the filter and the granulation workshop has been kept because it allows the use of equipment that improves the technicians’ working conditions. However, a fireproof tarpaulin was installed. More than 2 months were required to fully refurbish the filter.