At around 1:00 a.m., a driver noticed smoke coming out of the loading compartment of his van while driving in a city. The compartment contained pyrotechnic devices (unfired rockets, packs that had not completely fired, waste, etc.) from a fireworks show held earlier that evening. During the show, some cardboard shells from packs (batteries) had caught fire when they were set off, cutting the shooting wires and disrupting normal firing. The packs that had not completely fired were immersed in seawater and the unfired rockets were disassembled, checked, and put back in their original packaging as a safety precaution before being loaded into the van.

The driver stopped his vehicle on a boulevard. The driver and his colleague got out of the van and asked the people present, including two people in a nearby car, to vacate the area. As there was little smoke coming from the back of the van, the two men opted to open the doors to see what was happening. One of them got in but, seeing flames touching the repackaged pyrotechnics, jumped out of the vehicle. Just as his colleague came to see if he was OK, the first fireworks exploded, setting off the other fireworks in succession. Both men sustained injuries to their arms and chest from the heat and burning debris. The two people in the nearby car chose that moment to leave the area by going past the open compartment. They were slightly injured.

The burning debris ignited street furniture, nearby plants, and the garden of a nearby house.

The firefighters, alerted to the scene, brought the fire under control. The gutted van was taken away at 4:30 a.m. Material damage was estimated at €80,000.

According to the carrier and the fireworks manufacturer, several hypotheses could explain the accident:

• Parts of some of the cardboard shells that were placed back into the fireworks packs and then reloaded into the van may still have been hot. Draughts created while the van was in motion may have stoked the smouldering fire, which then spread to the pyrotechnics in the van.
• The fireworks packs that had not completely gone off during the show were immersed in sea water. Some pyrotechnic compositions may have reacted with it.

After the accident, the carrier gave a presentation of what happened and reminded its employees of the safety rules to be followed. It also drew up a specific waste-management procedure and includes it in its technicians’ training.