Lubrizol fire in Rouen: the Normandy Logistic track studied

After almost 15 days during which firefighters fought against the fire Lubrizol plant in Rouen (Seine-Maritime), investigators were finally able to start the findings on Wednesday. A dozen police officers from the PJ Rouen, gendarmes of the Central Office for Combating Environmental Crime and Public Health (OCLAESP) and the Institute for Criminal Research have finally accessed the site after having Tuesday, set up the many tools they will use to try to determine the origin of the fire.

"These operations will last several days and seek to find the starting area of ​​the fire and explain its trigger," said the Paris prosecutor in a statement released Tuesday.

According to our information, the investigators will in particular take a close interest in the Normandie Logistique company website. Neighbor of Lubrizol, she stocked many flammable products, including some from the chemical company, classified Seveso. "This is a transit site, which makes the deposit and guarding, with a large amount of storage," said a close file.

"The first visible flames appear behind the storage area"

Thus, videos seized by the investigators "suggest that the fire began within Normandy Logistics," said a source close to the investigation. It will of course be up to the experts in the field to confirm this, but it is still an important indicator … "

"The first visible flames appear behind the Lubrizol storage area and grinding shop, near the property line between Lubrizol and Normandie Logistique," says another source, who was able to watch Lubrizol's video surveillance and describes, at this moment, flames five to six meters high. However, the investigators remain cautious as the fire has spread rapidly over a zone straddling the two companies.

For its part, the prosecutor's office of Paris ensures that "the investigations carried out do not allow, at this stage, to locate the origin of the disaster". "Even if the first flames appear at Normandie Logistique, nothing says for the moment that the fire did not take elsewhere, tempers another source. The field survey must confirm or refute this track.

Still, these images probably explain the "offensive" attitude of the bosses of Lubrizol after the fire. "The video material was at home, they had to see them before they were seized," whispered a close investigator.

From now on, the fire experts will try to establish the exact location of the fire and its causes. For now, the track of negligence or accident is preferred: no flagrant outside element appears, type can of gasoline. The investigators do not have, at this stage, the list of products stored at Normandie Logistique. The only certainty was Lubrizol.