Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At around 8:30 p.m., a fire broke out in an electrical cabinet in the electrical transformer room of a metallurgical plant. The 10 workers present on the site were taken to safety. The plant’s electrical power, supplied via a 63,000 V line, was cut off. However, the electrical risk remained for 30 minutes. In the meantime, firefighters took a defensive approach and then extinguished the fire at around 9:40 p.m. Production was shut down until the next day, when a diesel generator was installed.

The ensuing investigation found that the join between two of the building’s gutters was leaking. Rainwater was able to enter the high-voltage substation through an opening near the leak and then trickle down to a low-voltage cabinet located perpendicular to it. The water caused a short circuit in the cabinet, setting it on fire. The flames spread to a plexiglass plate protecting a busbar on the ceiling above the burning cabinet. The plate fell, spreading the fire to a breaker supplying power to the plant and located across from the cabinet. The flames also spread to two cabinets next to the first one.

The entire gutter will be replaced by stronger ones. Cladding will be fitted over the openings perpendicular to the electrical room. The electrical cabinets will be repositioned to limit the risk of fire spreading from one to the other. The risk of the circuit breakers exploding had been taken into account and no cabinets will be positioned opposite any circuit breakers. The plate used to protect the busbar will be replaced by standardised metal cover. The installation of a fire detection and smoke extraction system is under consideration.