At around 2:00 p.m., a fire broke out at a metal waste recovery plant while an employee was moving aluminium turnings with a grapple excavator. As the grapple dug into the turnings, a flash occurred and ignited them. The firefighters were alerted. The plant’s employees battled the fire with an extinguisher and two hoses. The driver used the grapple excavator to grab two 1000-l containers of water and dump them onto the flames. However, as the burning waste contained magnesium, this only made the fire worse and caused new flames to appear. The fire was smothered after two 1000-l containers of sand were poured onto it. The plant’s employees then cooled the incandescent heap of sand-covered waste by spreading it out. Upon arriving at the plant, the firefighters helped to finish extinguishing the fire and sprayed firefighting foam onto the materials to prevent the fire reigniting.

The firewater, which flowed into the rainwater and runoff collection system, was discharged into a retention basin. Rain helped to dilute the concentration of pollutants in the basin.

The accident was caused by a spark produced by friction between the grapple and the metal waste. This spark ignited the cutting oil on the aluminium turnings, which in turn ignited the magnesium in the turnings.

Since the accident, the operator trains its employees in how to respond to metal fires. As the containers of sand were effective in fighting the fire, the operator had several containers filled as a preventive measure.