At around 1.40 a.m., a fire broke out between the cladding of a building and a plastic container storage area at a 7,000m² hazardous waste processing centre. Firefighters limited the spread of the fire to 1,000m². The fire was brought under control at 4 a.m. The building’s metal structure was damaged, as was the sprinkler system, the fire safety system, and 4 forklifts parked for charging on the other side of the cladding. An estimated €2.5m of property damage was caused. The firefighting water was contained on site, and then sent to a cement industry plant for processing. The 6t of burned waste was sent to a hazardous waste incineration facility. The plastic container crushing operations were shut down, and 5 employees were laid off.

The incident was caused by a malicious act. There were no power supplies near the area in which the fire broke out and a thermal imaging camera scan performed when the site closed at 8 p.m. on the previous day did not reveal anything abnormal. In addition, a hole was found in the wire fencing installed the previous week, and the cladding by the outbreak of fire had been lifted up to head height.

Following the incident, the operator added external CCTV cameras and put in place a security service outside business hours. An environmental impact assessment was carried out and did not show any impact either on the site’s immediate surroundings or off-site. The fire was contained in the building in which it broke out. Thorough cleaning of the building in which the fire broke out was recommended once it has been renovated.