Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At 9.20 a.m., a member of staff detected an outbreak of fire on the bank of a pit at a non-hazardous waste storage facility. A truck was set up on the dome of the pit and deployed 3 fire nozzles. Due to a strong wind, the fire department was called. The fire spread on the dome, but was brought under control using sprinklers at 10.15 a.m. At around 10.25 a.m., the energy recovery plant inlet biogas capture valves were closed. A second fire broke out on the southern bank under the bank’s geomembrane covering: the geomembrane was cut off and the waste sprayed. At 1 p.m., another hot spot was covered with ground sludge. At 1.30 p.m., firefighters left the site, and the operator monitored the situation and sprayed both continuously and in the event of appearance of puffs of smoke. Despite increased monitoring in this area, 2 other hot spots were detected under the geomembrane over the following days. These were located in areas where fires had broken out in the weeks preceding the incident (ARIA 56605 and 56606).

The volume of waste affected was estimated to be 200m³. Material damage was observed to the geomembrane in 2 pits, as well as to the geotextile covering, biogas capture system, and leachate recovery system in one pit.

The fire broke out in a pit that had not been in use for more than 4 months. A temporary covering had been set up 4 months earlier and work on the permanent covering was ongoing. There is no evidence to confirm the cause of the fire but the presence of strong winds favouring outbreaks of fire with better oxygenation of any residual hot spots is one hypothesis, as is the presence of lithium batteries potentially mixed in with a bulky waste delivery.

The operator took the following actions:

  • laying the pit’s permanent covering;
  • continued spraying of the bank with sprinklers;
  • increased monitoring of the area all week, including temperature checks using a thermal imaging camera;
  • covering of waste with inert materials prior to laying the geomembrane;
  • preferably storing bulky waste in crushed form to reduce the presence of oxygen in it.