A major fire occurred this Saturday afternoon on the SNAM industrial site (New metal refining company) in the town of Viviez in Aveyron. 3000 m² of warehouses burned, where 900 tonnes of lithium batteries were located. Due to significant smoke in the air, the prefecture requested time from the population of the place called Le Crozet, within a radius of 500 m to remain confined. This affected around forty homes. The confinement ended in the evening.
The sector remains to be avoided. Departmental road 5 is closed. A road diversion is in place to allow circumvention of the site.
More than 70 firefighters, no injuries
More than 70 firefighters were mobilized this Saturday until the end of the day. They managed to bring the fire under control in the evening. This Sunday morning, around thirty are still on site, mainly for surveillance operations.
There were no injuries.
Emergency services specializing in chemical risks came to support Haute-Garonne as well as the police and the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL). The Marseille firefighters will carry out new measures on smoke.
L’origin house fire currently unknown. The annexed warehouse of 4,000 m² was able to be preserved.
Containment lifted
The call for confinement, was therefore lifted at the beginning of the evening. The people were all able to leave their homes, said Colonel Mickaël Lecoq, departmental fire and rescue director for Aveyron, last night. “The fire is contained to its perimeter and no longer threatens, it will take a long time to be extinguished, but no longer represents a risk for the population nor for the environment nor for surrounding businesses”, he clarified. Measurements of smoke toxicity carried out throughout the day “made it possible to eliminate any risk for the population and for the firefighters.”