At around 7:00 p.m., workers at a sorting plant saw smoke rising from the intersection of two conveyor belts on the pre-sorter on the tipping floor. Employees tried to put the fire out with two extinguishers from a cherry picker, but smoke continued to rise. The firefighters and the plant’s manager were alerted. The employees evacuated the site. The smoke vents opened. After discussion with the firefighters and the plant’s manager, the maintenance technician cut off the pre-sorting area’s power supply. Using a tall ladder, the firefighters began spraying the fire. As the amount of water sprayed was very small, the disc used to divert the firewater to the containment pond was not actuated. At around 8:30 p.m., technicians tested each conveyor under the firefighters’ supervision. They did not see any (visible) damage or detect any hot spots (infrared camera). The firefighters left at around 9:00 p.m. Technicians cleaned the equipment. The next day, the plant operated at partial capacity (no pre-sorting) until the necessary checks could be completed.

The incident was caused by a malfunction with the conveyors’ mechanical systems. More specifically, the failure of a bearing created play and thus friction between mechanical parts. These parts then heated up to a very high temperature and caused the nearby waste and dust to burn and produce smoke. A replacement bearing was received on 20 November, but the sorting plant continued to operate at partial capacity mode until it could be fitted.

To avoid a similar incident, the operator plans to revise the conditions for accessing the conveyors (installed at a height) so that they can be inspected more frequently (revision of the inspection plan) and more easily by operating staff and maintenance technicians.