At around 11:30 p.m., a fire broke out in a 750 m² building containing used furniture and, more particularly, 7 tonnes of used mattresses (300 in all, half of which were stored on pallets). The building was located at a non-hazardous waste reclamation centre. The firefighters cut through the fence in order to get in. The fire spread to the ends of a wood storage area located immediately near the burning building. An earthmoving company moved the heaps of timber and doused the hot spots. The strong wind pushed the plume of smoke onto the nearby highway, disrupting traffic. The police informed motorists to stay away from the area. The firefighters used six hoses (two from a ladder) to put the fire out. They left the site at around 1:00 p.m. the next day. The building was sprayed in the afternoon to prevent the fire reigniting.

The mattresses and the building were completely destroyed and the building’s metal frame threatened to collapse. Some of the firewater overflowed from the retention pond and onto the concrete slab. An outside contractor drained the retention pond.

The operator, who was not present on the site, was not alerted. The technicians found out what happened when they arrived for their shift at 5:30 a.m. the next morning. The site was supposed to be guarded nightly between 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m., but the caretaker was absent the night of the fire. In addition, there were no alarms connected to a remote surveillance system. Regarding the firewater, the operator acknowledged that the stormwater drainage network had been clogged for some time. The network was insufficiently maintained. The inspection authorities also noted an excessive amount of wood chips that was yet to be taken away (glutted markets) and that the distance between the wood storage areas and the building was smaller than that required by the authorisation order (minimum of 10 m).

A prefectural emergency-measures order and a formal notification order were issued.

Since the accident, the operator has:

• Set up a video surveillance system;
• Revised the site’s guarding conditions;
• Repaired the site’s fence;
• Built a new wood storage platform that respects the distances from the building.