Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

A fire broke out in a bagging workshop at the base of a row of pallets containing fungicide (manganese dithiocarbamate produced from carbon sulphide, ethylene diamine and manganese salt). The plant firefighters fought the blaze with foam to avoid sending polluted water into the sewer system. It took 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. As the stock of fungicide tended to burst back into flames, it was removed in metal bins and kept under surveillance. The use of microperforated bags, which replaced hermetic paper bags just a few days earlier, was determined to be the cause of the fire. These microperforated bags could lead to sufficiently high temperatures resulting in the self-ignition (100°C) of the carbon sulphide, produced from the degradation of manganese dithiocarbamate. Reoxygenation of the mass contained in the bag facilitated by the microperforations and better filling of the bags (greater settlement) explains the phenomenon that lead to the fire.