In a green waste transit and composting centre, a fire broke out on a stock of 5,000 m³ of wood waste at around 3:30 a.m. A significant plume of smoke was released, and a high voltage line above the site was disconnected for safety reasons. Horses from a nearby riding school were evacuated. Firefighters faced difficulties acquiring a sufficient supply of water and had to draw water from a pond at a nearby facility. They spread out and flooded the waste with water. The intervention ended the following day at around noon, and the 261 tonnes of combustion residues were hauled away to a storage facility.

Part of the firefighting water was confined on site, and the rest was stored in a retaining basin located within the industrial estate. Part of the optical fiber network was damaged, and operating losses were estimated at €400k. The site’s green waste activity remained closed for 3 weeks and its recycled wood activity for 2 months.

The Inspection authorities for classified facilities noted that the waste storage facilities were located too close together, thus facilitating the spread of the fire and complicating the intervention of the fire brigade. A prefectoral emergency measures order was initiated in order to:

• define the actions to be implemented before resuming activity (analysis and removal of the firefighting water, cleaning of the network, and removal of burnt waste);
• ensure post-accident monitoring of the fire’s environmental impact (sampling from soil and plants);
• establish new technical operating provisions (adequate distance between stored waste and the property boundaries, characteristics of wood islands in terms of surface area, height, spacing between piles, etc.).

The operator also decided to install a 300 m³ fire water tank.

The waste involved in the fire included wood chips from waste collection centres and may have contained traces of varnish, paint, etc. (class B wood from panels, furniture, etc.). According to the operator, the fire appears to have been the result of a criminal act. Video surveillance footage of the incident shows a rapid and violent outbreak of fire on the stock of non-fermentable material, which occurred at night while the site was closed.

A fire had already occurred at the site in 2008 (ARIA 35211).