Explosion at the Saipol factory in Sète: “There is no longer any risk of secondary accident or worsening”

The impressive fire on one of Saipol's units broke out around 5 p.m. Midi Libre – NICOLAS ZARROUK

The fire which affected the Saipol site on the port of Sète was brought under control at the end of the day this Wednesday April 10. The disaster left one employee seriously burned and injured. The causes of this industrial accident will be the subject of an investigation.

It was indeed an explosion inside the esterification unit of the Saipol factory (classified Seveso as low threshold) which was at the origin of the fire which broke out this Wednesday April 10 around 4:40 p.m. Huge black smoke visible from Mont Saint-Clair immediately alerted emergency services.

Ten minutes later, firefighters began to arrive on site from the Bassin de Thau barracks then from Sdis 34, coordinated by the Hérault prefecture. Large-capacity means for fighting fires (tonne pump vans, a fire boat) but also mobile chemical intervention cell.

A badly burned employee

An injured person was quickly extracted from the building, which was under maintenance at the time of the incident, indicated the communications department of the Saipol company. Burned on the face, hands and thighs, the employee of the company, European leader in the processing of oilseeds (mainly rapeseed and sunflower), was evacuated by a gendarmerie helicopter to the University Hospital ;from Montpellier. His vital prognosis was not in jeopardy.

Around twenty factory employees and some 200 port workers were evacuated as a preventive measure. During this time, around a hundred firefighters from throughout Hérault (45 vehicles), coordinated by a Sdis 34 command post deployed on site, and guided by a drone, fought against the flames for several hours. The fire persisted in particular in a 300 m3 diester tank, with a very high risk of explosion. Around 7 p.m., the fire was under control, announced sub-prefect Guillaume Raymond during a press briefing 100 m from the theater of operations.

"Fire not completely extinguished"

"The fire is under control but not completely extinguished, but there is no longer any risk of further accident or worsening", he indicated. In the evening, the prefectural authorities communicated reassuring data on air quality.

Also read: Fire on the Seveso de Saipol site in Sète: what impact on air quality ?

"It’is a non-toxic product which burned according to the operator, so no toxicity a priori", a – he continued. At his side, Colonel Eric Vial, deputy director of Sdis 34, responsible for supervising on-site interventions, explained: "We have a classic fire risk that we are faced with . There are no particularly toxic products, they are essentially alcohols and fats which burn . Also specifying that the weather conditions had favored, thanks to the wind, the evacuation of smoke towards the sea. Water cannons, combined with means of extinguishing the site and foam were used to stop the flames.

"Unable to determine duration of intervention" 

The causes of the accident are not yet known. A police investigation should start this Thursday at the site, led by the Sète national police. This Wednesday evening, emergency services were still on site: "We are not able to determine the duration of the intervention. The orientation is rather favorable but we don't know how long we will be present on site.

Olivier Carmes, the port director, was present in Saipol. Among the first measures taken, "we immediately evacuated the dockside closest to the factory, and blocked an access road", he confided, to move some 600 people away from the risk zone (around thirty for the ’ maintenance of cranes) who work every day at the port. But the total evacuation did not take place. He announced a watch of his services all night, thus concluding "on the port, activity will resume normally" for this Thursday morning.