At around3:45 p.m., in an auto salvage centre, while an operator was transferring petrol from a plastic bucket into a plastic 20-litre container via an iron funnel, the petrol caught fire when a spark occurred between the bucket the funnel. Large flames engulfed various containers of pollution control waste (oil, fuel, coolant). The employees at the site tried unsuccessfully to control the fire with fire extinguishers and firefighting equipment, and the fire spread to the tools and the vehicle being salvaged. The firefighters sprayed down the area. The liquid waste containers (IBCs) melted and released their contents. Thanks to their efforts, the fire was brought under control in 90 minutes. Six days later, a sample was taken from the confined extinguishing water that had passed through the oil separator.

Emissions from the fire caused air pollution owing to the dispersion of soot-laden smoke. One hundred litres of used engine oil, 200 l of mixed fuel and 600 l of cooling liquid leaked into the 900-litre retention tank on which the containers had been placed. All the pollution control equipment had been damaged.

The cause of the incident was attributed to the staff’s inadequate awareness of the risks associated with handling highly flammable products. The operator emptied the fuel from the end-of-life vehicles’ (ELV) tank directly into a plastic bucket and did not use the machine provided for this purpose, which allows the product to be recovered in a watertight manner. The bucket’s plastic material developed electrostatic charges due to a condensation effect caused by the weather conditions (low relative humidity in the air and friction on the plastic generated by the wind).

Following the accident, the operator developed a procedure for recovering fuel, separate from the one used for ELV pollution control. The personnel were also made aware of the effects of static electricity, the proper grounding of equipment, and flammable products’ handling.