At around 3:45 p.m., a fire broke out inside a disused coffee grounds silo during hot-spot work inside a building that was being torn down at a tea and coffee processing plant. Black smoke poured out of the windows. Technicians attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher, but were unsuccessful. The employees were evacuated and the internal emergency plan was implemented at 3:53 p.m. Firefighters were called in and the manufacturing facilities were safely shut down. All the power supplies were cut. Inflatable covers and absorbent materials were used to isolate the wastewater and stormwater networks. The firefighters quickly extinguished the fire after arriving at around 4:05 p.m.

A contractor pumped up 180 m³ of the 220 m³ of the firewater.

The work being performed involved using a blowtorch to cut a metal post supporting a catwalk. Nearby were two old silos containing a residual amount of dried coffee grounds used as fuel for an old mixed coffee ground/coal boiler. Sparks from the work landed on the dry coffee grounds in one of the silos and spread to the adjacent silo.

A close look of the hot-work permit revealed several deficiencies. More particularly, the nature of the grinding/cutting work (equipment used, materials to be cut, facility, etc.) was not specified and there were no mentions of the specific risks. 

The inspection authorities for classified facilities asked the operator to ensure that hot-work permits are properly filled out and that appropriate precautions are taken when grinding/cutting operations are performed. In case at hand, flame-retardant tarpaulins should have been placed over the nearby combustible materials (dry coffee grounds) or access to them should have been blocked and a fire watch should have been conducted at the end. 

After the fire, the jobsite was closed until the stability of the structures remaining to be torn down could be checked and preventive measures ensuring safe working conditions could be taken.