A loader caught fire while materials intended for composting were being screened at a composting and wood waste storage facility. Although employees moved the loader away and attacked the flames with extinguishers, they were unable to bring the fire under control. Firefighters were called in. Although the windrows at the facility were of limited size and separated by firebreaks, the strong wind (70–80 km/h) spread the flames first to the wood storage area and then to the compost windrows. Six of the facility’s seven windrows (1500 t) caught fire, as did several of its timber storage bunkers (600 t).

All the facility’s water resources — 240 m³ fire-protection pond, 850 m³ stormwater pond, 400 m³ flexible firefighting tank, and fire hydrant — were used. Pumps were operated in the ponds of the municipal wastewater treatment plant (36 hours) and industrial wastewater treatment plant (12 hours). The facility’s water isolation valves were closed to create two large bodies of water that were used to drench the burning wood and vegetation. Firewater was sprayed on the closed-loop systems, which helped reduce the water pumped in from the wastewater plant ponds. The fire was contained the following day at around 4:00 p.m.

The spraying of the burning waste generated a very thick white smoke that continued for the next four days. The firefighters evacuated a traveller camp located near the facility. The fire damaged two loaders, one hydraulic excavator, the compost watering system, the geomembranes lining the fire and retention ponds, the network manholes and portions of the fence and prefab walls (concrete failure risk).

The loader, purchased in 2007, had been regularly checked and serviced. Furthermore, the driver checked it daily at the start of each shift. According to the insurance company’s loss adjuster, the fire started behind the driver’s cab and was caused by vegetation touching the loader’s hot parts (perhaps the ventilation system). The facility’s screening operations generate a lot of fine vegetation particles.

The operator proposed to the managers of both WWTPs and the firefighters that they all agree on how firefighters can access the ponds when necessary (on-call manager to open the site, identification and equipping of the ponds). The operator also strengthened the facility’s fire-suppression systems (hoses, nozzles, reels, possibility of purchasing pump sets) and trained its first-response teams.