after the fire at the Bolloré Logistics site, the prefecture publishes reassuring analyzes
The prefect of Seine-Maritime, who had promised transparency, kept his promise. After the spectacular fire that ravaged industrial buildings near Rouen, on the night of Monday January 16 to Tuesday January 17, the prefecture published the first reassuring results of the analyzes on Tuesday evening.
The fire notably affected a Bolloré Logistics warehouse where 12,000 lithium automotive batteries were laid in Grand-Couronne, on an industrial site not classified as Seveso. Circumscribed Tuesday morning and controlled Tuesday evening, he did not hurt.
The fire immediately caused concern about possible risks to health or the environment, in particular among a population still traumatized by the precedent of the Lubrizol factory in September 2019, when 10,000 tonnes of chemicals were left in smoke in a serious fire in the same area.
Prefect Pierre-André Durand had assured that there was this time “no risk for the population” and promised to disclose the results. What the prefecture did on Tuesday evening by publishing the first analyzes of the firefighters.
🚨 Location 9:30 p.m. | Fire Bolloré Logistics #GrandCouronne Fire under control: – Closure of the Operation Center… https://t.co/Hv1kg5aXX0
The main risk came from burning lithium batteries, which can release dangerous hydrofluoric acid. Of the 28 measurement points set up by firefighters on and around the site, the analyzes “all showed that the level of hydrofluoric acid remained at zero”explains the prefecture in a press release.
The firefighters also checked the presence in the air in particular of nitric oxide, hydrochloric acid, hydrocyanic acid and hydrofluoric acid. Atmospheric samples “did not show any risk for the population in the department”adds the press release.
Schools remain open
The fire broke out late Monday afternoon in two cells of 6,000 m2, including one containing 12,000 batteries and the other tires. The site was evacuated on Monday shortly after the alert was given around 4:30 p.m. A third cell containing pallets and textiles from another company also burned down in the morning. At the height of the disaster, 137 firefighters were at work, aided by 60 vehicles.
No restrictions on the movement of people have been put in place and “all activities could take place this Tuesday as usual”including in schools, which “will open normally”said the prefecture on Tuesday in a press release. There is no “no injuries, no casualties, no nearby destruction”welcomed the prefect, recalling that the affected warehouse is located “in an industrial area with a rather rural immediate surroundings”.
🚨 Location 8:00 am | Fire Bolloré Logistics #GrandCouronne After a new start of fire recorded in the night… https://t.co/T90WRZurXm
The first residents are just over 500 meters from the burnt site, according to the prefect, who had warned the population of “winds which could change during the night, with a possibility that the left bank of Rouen is [touchée] by a burning smell, but still without risk, no evacuation, no containment”.
“No containment”
The town of Orival, a few kilometers south of Grand-Couronne, had however asked on Facebook to its inhabitants of “stay confined, close the windows and do not go out under any circumstances”.
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“There has been a series of fake news that have been disseminated”a lamented Tuesday Pierre-André Durand. “There was no need to justify an alert system, to evacuate or to confine, in view of the analyzes made by the firefighters”he assured, grateful grateful “that, visually, it was very impressive”. But the firefighters “Immediately deployed a whole series of measures, near and in more distant areas, in particular by following the plume. All of the measurement points turned out to be zero, so there is no particular concern to be had”repeated the prefect.
The environmental defense association Robin des bois has underlined the fire risk of lithium batteries and regrets that the logistics warehouses containing them are not today ” submitted [qu’] under registration” – and not authorization like a few years ago. The association asked “a diagnosis of the environment and monitoring of the products of the fire plume by looking for particular signatures that could not be confused with historical pollution”.
Contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Bolloré group explained that it had “Set up a crisis unit in conjunction with the prefecture”specifying that he had no “no information on the causes of the fire” at this stage, nor on the extent of the damage.
“We know that the fire started from the Bolloré Logistics unit, that is a certainty, since the alert was given by one of the employees. But we don’t know the cause, it will be up to the investigation to determine it.”said the prefect of Seine-Maritime on Tuesday.