More than 100 firefighters mobilized to counter the fire at a waste recycling center

Late Tuesday afternoon, a “significant” fire broke out in a building in Alès (Gard) which stored nearly 15,000 m3 of waste intended for recycling. The fire was about to be brought under control this Tuesday evening, according to what the Gard firefighters said. The latter were called “soon after 6 p.m. for a major fire in the Cévennes Déchets establishments” in Alès, they explained in a press release.

Nearly 110 firefighters mobilized

Arrived on site, they “found that the fire concerned a storage building of around 4,000 m2 housing a large stock of waste awaiting recovery”, they specified. “At 9 p.m., the firefighters managed to keep the fire in the first building”, and prevented it from spreading to adjacent warehouses, according to a joint statement from the firefighters and the Gard prefecture.

Nearly 110 firefighters, 37 emergency vehicles and a drone were mobilized. During its situation report carried out at 1 a.m., the Gard prefecture indicated that the operations were continuing.

The situation is developing “favourably”

A spokesperson for the Gard fire brigade explained to AFP that the waste affected by the fire is waste of the type “batteries, flammable liquids, oils, wood, anything you can find in a recycling center”. adding that the situation is evolving in a “favorable” way even if the complete extinction could however take several hours.

The inhabitants of the Tamaris district, located near the buildings of the Cévennes Déchets company, have been authorized to leave their homes, the prefecture said in a message posted on the social network X, formerly Twitter.

[#incendie] Update at 1:00 a.m. |
i ️ the operations to put out the fire continue
✅ the first analyzes by Marseille firefighters would note the absence of toxicity
🆕 residents of the Tamaris district of Alès can leave their homes pic.twitter.com/C4wrMnz66I

— Prefect of Gard (@Prefect30) August 15, 2023

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They were initially asked to stay at home and close doors and windows.

The building on fire has a retention system that allows the water used to extinguish the fire to be reprocessed, thus excluding any land pollution. A specialized vehicle sent by the firefighters of Marseille will also make it possible to remove the doubt on the toxicity of the flames. The prefecture confirmed that “the first analyzes by the Marseille firefighters would note the absence of toxicity”.