A fire ravaged a Bolloré Logistics site late yesterday afternoon, where lithium batteries were stored.
More than 12,000 of them went up in smoke in the fire at this site, located in Grand-Couronne, in the suburbs of Rouen. After several hours of intervention, the firefighters managed to put an end to the disaster.
A fire and explosions
The inhabitants of Grand-Couronne (Seine-Maritime) witnessed an impressive spectacle. The site of Bolloré Logistics, a subsidiary of the Bolloré group, heavily invested in the electrical sector, was invaded by flames yesterday around 4:30 p.m.
According to information from the prefecture, a cell of 6,000 square meters, containing nearly 12,250 batteries or lithium battery cells, was attacked by a fire. Batteries, intended for electric vehicles, causing explosions heard by local residents. The fire then spread to the neighboring cell occupied by Districash where some 70,000 tires were stored.
137 firefighters equipped with 60 devices finally managed to extinguish the flames a little before midnight. And according to the authorities, the surrounding population would have nothing to fear.
The prefect wants to be reassuring
Indeed, this fire comes three years after the one, of sinister memory, of the Lubrizol site, in the same Norman city. The prefect of Seine-Maritime Pierre-André Durand reminded that unlike the chemical plant, the Bolloré Logistics site was not classified Seveso, that is to say as a dangerous industrial installation.
Air quality measurements were also carried out from the start of the intervention at site level, in the vicinity, and even in a more distant perimeter, located outside the cloud. Result, ” no particular risk has been identified “.
However, the industrial risk expert Paul Poulain recalls the dangerousness of the disaster. ” Lithium battery fires are very polluting, as they notably release hydrofluoric acid and carbon oxides “, he explains. Elements that can cause pulmonary edema or bone malformations. He therefore recommends: follow the firefighters who fought this fire “.
Sources: France 3 Regions, West France, South West
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