A fire in an Aveyron warehouse containing 900 tonnes of lithium batteries led authorities on Saturday to confine the population within a radius of 500 meters (AFP / Lou Benoist)
A fire in an Aveyron warehouse containing 900 tonnes of lithium batteries led the authorities on Saturday to confine the population within a radius of 500 meters, we learned from reliable sources on Sunday.
The fire broke out in a 3,000 m2 warehouse, containing 900 tonnes of 2.5% lithium batteries, located in the town of Viviez, according to a police source.
According to the prefecture, the fire, quickly brought under control by the 54 firefighters mobilized, did not cause any casualties. There is now no risk of spreading, she said on Sunday.
For now, “the fire is still active”, still mobilizing around twenty firefighters on the site, the prefecture told AFP, estimating that the operation could still last “several hours, or even several days”.
Residents surrounding the scene within a 500 meter radius have been confined to their homes since Saturday evening.
Smoke, stagnating around the site due to lack of wind, continues to escape, “giving off a strong odor”, the prefecture told AFP.
“There is no information to determine the origin of the fire” at this stage, according to the prefecture.
The toxicity of the smoke and extinguishing water is controlled by a special vehicle from the Marseille firefighters, the police source further told AFP.
The emergency situations support unit of the National Institute of Industrial Environment and Risks was also called upon.
A team specializing in technological risk was mobilized, as well as Météo-France, to assess the impact of possible atmospheric pollution.
The environmental defense association Adeba judges on its Facebook page “what happened is very serious”.
“We have high hopes for the investigation that will follow. We will not be satisfied with reassuring press releases from the prefecture, the company and local elected officials,” she further asserts, wondering about the possible consequences of this fire on the health of residents, air quality or water quality.