More fear than harm.
A fire was declared on the ArcelorMittal Dunkirk site this Thursday at 2:39 p.m., according to the company.
In a press release sent to Le
Figaro
, the steel industry juggernaut assured that the internal procedure in the event of a fire was applied, preventing the fire from claiming victims.
For his part, a member of the CGT ArcelorMittal Dunkerque told Le
Figaro
that a man had injured his hand slightly.
The fire broke out at the level of the floor of blast furnace number four, one of the largest in Europe with a production capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes of steel per day.
"
There was an explosion and the fire took around the structure of the blast furnace on the cast iron floor 40 meters high
", explains to
Figaro
, Gaëtan Lecocq, logistics technician on the ArcelorMittal Dunkirk site and union delegate CGT.
Thanks to a team of firefighters affiliated with the site, the flames were brought under control quickly.
According to a union source, fire teams are still on site to secure the area where many toxic products are present and where the debris is still hot.
“We felt that something was going to happen”
Among the unions, anger is brewing.
They point to the state of the site's installations, some of which date back to the 1960s: “
For several years we have been asking for maintenance in the HF4, for a few months we felt that something was going to happen
”
.
For the moment the workers of the site, await the news of their direction.
“
The HF4 represents 50% of the production of the Dunkirk site, given the damage the losses will be great for the company, it smells of technical unemployment for us
”, indicates another member of the CGT ArcelorMittal Dunkirk.
An ongoing investigation to determine the nature of the fire.
