At around 3:00 p.m., a fire started at an outdoor storage facility containing 1500 t of recycled loose-leaf paper and paper bales. The operator implemented the site’s internal emergency plan. The employee car park was placed off limits. A paper machine was shut down. Firefighters attacked the fire with two bucket loaders, hoses and deluge guns. Around 4 m³/h of water was used at the height of the fire. The firewater was contained at the storage area. Covers were placed over storm drains. The fire was extinguished at around 6:00 p.m. and the internal emergency plan was lifted at 7:00 p.m. Employees continued spraying the heaps into the evening.

The inspection authorities for classified facilities found the following regulatory violations:

• failure to report an incident;
• inadequate containment of firewater;
• insufficient human resources to fight the fire;
• failure to update the internal emergency plan.

Firewater flowed into the River Seine via a storm drain that was left uncovered. In terms of material damage, one loader burnt.

The fire started when a grab crane was used to remove strapping from the bales. A steel wire scraped against the ground, igniting a spark that consumed a pile of paper.

The operator instituted preventive measures to prevent future incidents of the same type:

• inform the inspection authorities whenever an incident occurs;
• revise the procedures for using a grab crane to cut bale strapping (use of plastic strapping instead of wire strapping or use of a strap cutter, etc.) ;
• draw up written instructions specifying the operations to be carried out to contain firewater to the site;
• update the internal emergency plan to include changes to site conditions site (addition of outside storage areas);
• train a first-response team.

The use of a grab crane to cut bale strapping resulted in another accident at the same site on 24 April 2018 (51405). Unlike the previous accident, the cutting was not lead by a contractor, this one was lead by the operator.