Several witnesses informed us of a fire in Fernelmont. “There is a farm currently on fire in Franc-Warêt, writes Florian, via the orange button Notify us. There is a wide security perimeter in place. The district is evacuated and the Fernelmont exit towards Liège closed “. “It’s a big fire“, describes Philippe, still via the orange button. The fire broke out Thursday evening in an agricultural shed in Franc-Waret (Fernelmont, province of Namur). A few tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in the building must have been evacuated, we learned from the firefighters in the Nage area (Namur-Andenne-Gembloux-Éghezée).
“We quickly learned that in the shed completely on fire, around thirty tons of nitrate, therefore fertilizers, were present, which made us take the greatest precautions to manage this and prevent overheating and therefore runaway of these fertilizers which can cause large explosions“, explained Olivier Gilson, captain officer on duty in the Nage emergency zone. The risk of explosion was therefore real even if the ammonium was not very flammable according to the mayor who nevertheless decided to evacuate a hundred inhabitants.
“We opened the Fernelmont sports hall. We have welcomed families with children, but also pets. It was a precautionary measure from the moment this fertilizer was inside the shed even if the risk was really very low we wanted to play the precautionary card“, explained Christelle Plomteux, mayor of Fernelmont.
Around 100 people were therefore evacuated to a sports hall with their pets. “Everything has accelerated a little. We preferred, even if the risk was not important, to evacuate the village“, specified the mayor on the airwaves of Bel RTL.
The fire was brought under control around two in the morning but a team was still on site to provide surveillance on Friday morning.
Used in agriculture, ammonium nitrate has received a lot of attention lately for causing the dramatic explosion on August 4 in the port of Beirut in Lebanon. “The explosive products were evacuated in priority and in safety“, said the firefighters of the Swimming zone.
Many residents had to be evacuated as a precaution but have since returned to their homes. The four aid stations in the area were mobilized to respond to the fire. The shed, which also contained hay, burned to the ground as well as several tractors and harvesters parked there.
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