"I saw the smoke from the town hall. It scared us because we believed for a while that it came from the mask factory. But the factory is saved, ”says relieved Thierry Meignen.
The mayor (LR) of Blanc-Mesnil was not far from the truth. This Monday morning at 9:30 am, a fire broke out in a warehouse adjoining the one that houses the brand new mask manufacturing plant in the Blanc-Mesnil industrial area, rue du Parc.
The fire started for an undetermined reason in this storage site adjoining the factory of surgical masks created by the Chinese businessman Hsueh Shen Wang. Set up in record time, it was inaugurated last week and the first productions were released this Monday morning from the three channels.
Employees give warning
When the fire started, employees were present in the factory. "They are the ones who alerted the fire brigade," says Thierry Meignen. There was an emergency because the clean room that houses the production lines is adjoining the damaged warehouse. It couldn't last more than two hours, ”continues the mayor.
The rapid intervention of the firefighters made it possible to contain the fire an hour later. Smoke was visible for miles around, but the mask factory was not damaged. Much to the relief of Hsueh Wang, who rushed to the site to verify that the site had not suffered.
First mask manufacturing plant operational in France since the coronavirus pandemic, it will initially produce 500,000 surgical masks. Manufacturing is expected to rise to 1 million masks per day. FFP2 models will also be released from Blanc-Mesnil machines.