At around 1:30 a.m., feedstock used as solid recovered fuel (SRF) caught fire in a silo at a cement works subject to authorisation. The operator implemented the site’s internal emergency plan. The fire spread to the tyre and sawdust storage areas. The fire affected the following facilities:

• the SRF metering shop, which included a system for withdrawing SRF from a silo and conveying it to a metering system;
• a belt conveyor;
• a sawdust unloading area.

The units were shut down safely: the gas inlet valve was closed, the electricity was cut off, preventive inerting was performed using carbon dioxide and the silo’s shell was sprayed. The large amount of smoke made it difficult for firefighters to carry out reconnaissance of the site. The silo was emptied and the firewater was pumped to a pond.

The fire affected the furnace feed silo (1200 m³), a 250 m² building, 185 t of tyres and 225 t of sawdust.

The fire started on the sawdust and tyre screw conveyor and then spread to the feedstock storage area via the loading belt and the cable trays. The operator and various experts posited that it was sparked by friction from a metallic foreign body that became caught and created a jam at the junction between the screen and the conveyor belt junction.

The analysis of the event’s causes also showed that:

• there was no fire detector near the screen (the fire detection system activated only several minutes after the fire started);
• the fire may have been fuelled by air pulled through a dust filter.

The operator subsequently implemented the following measures:

• stepped up the frequency of periodic inspections by operating staff;
• added a jam detection system at the outlet of the screen;
• fitted sensors to detect abnormal temperatures;
• interlocked the stopping of the belt with the jam detectors and the aforementioned temperature sensors;
• installed sprinklers.