“We couldn't breathe, it was suffocating”: local residents tell their experiences of the fire at the Sérignan waste storage site

Large clouds of smoke spread over Vendres and the surrounding area. Midi Libre – Jean-Pierre Amarger

On Tuesday, August 27, the fire at the Sérignan waste storage site raised concerns and left its mark. Local residents tell how they experienced the event and the days that followed.

“We couldn't breathe, it was suffocating, recalls Marc*, a resident of the Vendres industrial zone. With all that smoke, it was no longer possible. I went to stay with my partner, in Aude, for a few days."

Tuesday, August 27, around 6:30 p.m., a huge fire broke out at the Sérignan waste storage site. Alerted by the flames and then the smoke, witnesses recount how they experienced the fire, which was then covered with earth to be extinguished.

"Yes, we had fear"

Luckily, in Sérignan, despite the proximity to the fire, the inhabitants were little impacted. "We were not affected at all, says Anthony, 38 years old.We understood right away that it was the dump, it had already happened five years ago. From here, we could see the flames clearly, but the smoke went in the other direction. We weren't scared." To which his partner, Julie, retorts: "Yes, we were scared, the children too. Especially since we didn't receive any official communication, we kept in touch via social networks to see how things were going."

"It lasted three days"

On the other hand, the houses around the sorting center were affected. "Of course we were affected by the smoke, Jeanne* confirms. From here, we could see the flames, we heard explosions. Fortunately, it wasn't too windy, so the fire didn't spread." Before continuing : “In the evening, we had to close everything. I'm not an expert, but it wasn't just smoke. It smelled bad, there must have been more than just plastic in there. It lasted three days, and we didn't receive any official communication, so of course we were scared.”

“Luckily, we didn't have any students”

At the Françoise-Giroud college in Vendres, people were also very worried. “We saw the flames right away, remembers Guillaume Marazel, the principal of the establishment. It happened at 400m as the crow flies. On Tuesday evening, and then all night long, there was a column of black smoke. I got up at 3am to keep an eye on it. I was not at peace for the establishment. Luckily, we didn't have any students, because there is also a boarding school here, otherwise we wouldn't have experienced the same night."

The college was then hit by the fumes that were released in the following days. "The first fumes were too high, we didn't smell them, says the head of the establishment. But, the next day, the cloud of white smoke was over us. The staff, who worked here on Wednesdays, had difficulty breathing and working. It was a pungent smell, which takes hold of the bronchi, like when you burn waste. We followed the news in the media, radio and press, as well as the press release from the prefecture."

“No risk of acute poisoning”

As a reminder, the very next day, the prefecture announced a fire on this landfill site for “non-hazardous” waste and that 6,500 tonnes of waste had burned. She also specified that smoke samples taken by Marseille marine firefighters revealed that there was no “risk of acute inhalation poisoning for local populations”. The services of the Dreal (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing) also carried out an inspection of the bottoms of the lockers to determine whether there were any risks of infiltration into the ground. The results of these inspections are not yet known. In any case, the site will no longer be able to be operated from December 2024.

*First names have been changed. I subscribe to read the rest