It was dead calm since the arson fire, which occurred during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The production of mineral water was finally able to resume at midday on Friday at the Volvic site (Danone group) in Puy-de-Dôme, said the Volvic Water Company.
“Thanks to the exceptional mobilization of employees of the Volvic Water Company to rehabilitate the installations, production is being started,” said a company spokesperson. A restart expected after flames hit a technical room at the start of the week, leading to the shutdown of all production.
This room which contained compressors was deemed “quite strategic” by the factory director Emmanuel Gerardin, because it supplied the factory’s installations. The damage is “difficult to quantify” and represents “a few million bottles over a day”, he added, condemning a “serious and intolerable” act. Some 300 employees (out of the 800 people employed by the factory) had been placed on technical unemployment.
“Nah, but what about water”
A complaint was filed and an investigation was opened, carried out by the gendarmerie research section, to try to clarify how the events unfolded. Inscription had been found on a wall, saying: “Water extractivism? No, but in water,” since deleted by the company.
Locally, the bottler is the subject of challenges from environmental associations and the owner of a fish farm who is taking the fight to court. On Thursday, they condemned this act, like local elected officials.