A major fire broke out on Monday January 16, around 4:30 p.m., in a Bolloré Logistics company located near Rouen. Tens of thousands of lithium batteries caught fire. If the latter is now circumscribed and no casualties are to be deplored, the firefighters are still on site.
The region would have done well without it. A little over three years after the fire at the Lubrizol factory, which caused a stir at the time, a new fire broke out yesterday, at the end of the afternoon, in the town of Grand-Couronne, close to the city of Rouen. This time, it is a Bolloré Logistics company manufacturing in particular lithium batteries for electric cars which is concerned.
No casualties to report, the fire now contained
The fire started on January 16 around 4:30 p.m., it was a lithium battery that ignited in a warehouse where there were some “12,250 batteries or lithium battery elements”, according to the operator quoted by France Blue Normandy. What precisely could have led to this situation, we still do not know at the time of this writing. The fire spread to a second Districash warehouse in which around 70,000 tires were stored. A new outbreak of fire spread to a third building during the night. The first site was evacuated immediately, no casualties are to be deplored. According to the latest news, the fire has been contained but the firefighters are still present on site and will be “until the complete extinction of the residual fires”, according to the prefect of Seine-Maritime.
Unlike the Lubrizol site, the Bolloré Logistics company is not Seveso classified. The prefect is said to have declared that “as far as smoke is concerned, the measurements do not reveal any particular element of concern”. But, as a precautionary measure, certain municipalities located in the vicinity have still invited the inhabitants to remain confined to their homes. This is the case in Oissel or Orival. Measurements are taken to determine if a risk is present. Stay tuned, up close.
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