Employees who arrived at a silo at 7:20 a.m. found that it had no power. While performing some checks, they saw smoke coming out of the high-voltage transformer. They opened the door to the room and saw flames coming from the capacitor bank box. They shut the door and alerted the firefighter and the site manager at around 7:30 a.m. When the firefighters arrived at around 8:00 a.m., they protected the surrounding facilities to prevent the fire spreading. The electric service cut off the power at around 9:00 a.m. and switched off the high-power voltage network. The firefighters then extinguished the fire using a CO2 extinguisher. The facilities were ventilated and checked using a thermal imaging camera. The firefighters left at around 9:50 a.m.

The fire destroyed the capacitor banks and damaged the electrical equipment on the high-voltage delivery station. The heat melted the cable tray. The site was without electric power for two months. Diesel generators were installed until the transformer could be put back in service.

After the fire, inspectors found the last electrical checks carried out by the operator that year had revealed a number of irregularities that had not been followed by corrective actions. Six months earlier, the body in charge of inspecting electrical facilities had indicated that some facilities posed fire and explosion hazards.

While the transformer room was being refurbished, the operator had new capacitor banks installed outside it. The loss of electrical power led to a reduction in the safety level of the facilities: the temperature of the stored grain was no longer being monitored and the LPG tank’s spray bar was no longer operational. Patrols were put in place to monitor for odours and smoke in the grain storage area. A diesel generator was used to power the spray bar.