Wednesday afternoon around 5 pm a big fire broke out at our site in Lanaken. The first signs of smoke were detected by Van Werven staff. They reacted efficiently towards emergency services. No personal damage was established. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
Household packaging
The fire started in stacked household packaging bales. They were awaiting further recycling at the site in Lanaken. After the first detected smoke the fire expanded quickly towards a part of the storage. Fire departments from the whole region handled effectively. They prevented the fire from spreading to other storage, buildings and installations in the direct vicinity.
Damage
The damage appears to be limited to the backside of the yard and the direct nearby sorting line. It has been damaged by the heat, but was not seized by the fire. The other sorting line and the buildings were not damaged.
All the necessary permits were in order, as well as the fire safety regulations. The fire department used the permanently present firefighting water. The same reservoirs were used to collect the firefighting water again.
Activities
On Thursday October 27 we temporarily stopped the input to allow the fire department to do their job. Tomorrow we expect to start taking in materials again. The recycling process is still active.