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Shortly after 6 o’clock, the rescue service announced that the fire at the industrial plant in Stenungsund had been extinguished. A few hours earlier, the fire was still not under control, and some 20 units from the emergency services and fire brigade participated in the fire fighting work.
The cause was said to be a failed compressor.
“The work is focused on cooling the adjacent parts of the process investigation so that we can shut it down in a controlled and secure manner,” said Niclas Fogelqvist at the rescue service in Greater Gothenburg at 4 o’clock.
He described the fire as complicated, and the extinguishing work continued throughout the night.
Plastic factory
The so-called cracking plant mainly produces ethylene and propylene, which is used as a raw material in, among other things, the nearby polyethylene plant.
The management team and other experts met in the afternoon and evening at the emergency center in the factory area, said communicator Maria Bildtmark.
“What we have been careful about is making sure our staff is safe, and we learned that from the rescue service from the beginning,” he said overnight.
TT: Do you have a clear idea of what happened?
– No, we still haven’t. Now it is the rescue service inside that is responsible for the incident. Then we can see where and how and the consequences, she says.
Flames and smoke
The flames that were seen from far away from the plant come from the so-called flares, which are a security system. Typically, according to the company, steam is added to prevent soot, but the steam boilers stopped, causing the smoke to turn black.
An important message was sent to the public (VMA), inviting residents of the area to enter and close doors, windows, and ventilation.
– The smoke pillar is not only related to fire, but it is also the torches that burn excess gases. They always do, Dan Lindqvist said in the emergency services early in the evening.
When the fire was extinguished, emergency services announced that they had also removed the VMA.
Correction: In an earlier version it was incorrectly stated that polyethylene is manufactured in the cracking plant. Instead, the raw material used in the nearby polyethylene plant is manufactured.
Gustav Sjöholm / TT
