A huge blaze took place in Hamm on 14 September 2018. The depot of a recycling company caught fire, requiring a firefighters' intervention for the best part of the day.
Today, more than ten months after the fire, remains of the depot and a huge quantity of rubbish are still lying around.
FOTOGALERIE: Andréck vum Feier zu HammThe depot started to burn on Rue Haute in Hamm on Friday at 9.45 am. By 10.48 am, an employee alerted the emergency services to the fire as it had got out of control.
A massive black fume cloud could be seen over large parts of the city. When the first firefighters arrived, the entire depot was already burning.
Dozens of firefighters were busy trying to extinguish the fire until 7.30 pm.
Gallery: The day after the fire in Hamm
Two things stick out from the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps' (CGDIS) report. First, the supply of extinguishing water was a major issue. Moreover, the depot was not equipped with an automatic fire detector or with an extinguishing system.
The company is a so-called full service disposal business, an ISO-certified recycling facility, which specialises in the disposal of a variety of materials, especially building waste. The depot consequently contained materials such as styrofoam, paper, oxygen bottles, bitumen mixtures, and a variety of barrels containing oil or chemicals, all of which were considered flammable.
Given the contents of the depot, it certainly came as an astonishment that the depot did not even have a fire detector installed. All in all, the materials made for a perfect combination for an industrial fire in an area where hundreds of individuals work.
How far has the inquiry come, 11 months after the fire?
So far, the firm has excluded the possibility of arson being a cause. The fire began in a container holding approximately three tonnes of isolation material. The firm has claimed the material caught fire alone. The public prosecutor's office, on the other hand, is continuing to investigate the cause.The Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (ITM) has repeated its policy of not commenting on specific cases, but generally claimed that fixed fire detectors were deemed not necessary for the firm's conditions.
The site today has not been cleared, nor does it look as if the firm is adhering to measures preventing any environmental pollution. The burnt-down hall and vehicles, the melted plastic, and the piles of waste remain there to be rained on, spreading potential pollution.
The City of Luxembourg told RTL that the responsibility for clearing the site does not lay with the municipality, given that it is private land. As for the firm itself, which rented the plot from a German owner, there has been no further comment on the waste's future. As for the firm itself, it plans to move to a new site in the industrial zone in Foetz, having requested permission from the Mondercange municipality. The municipality is still reviewing the request.
The Hamm fire was not the first fire to ravage the German firm's sites. There have been large scale fires at Saarland and North Germany sites in the past 18 months.
When, or even, if the Hamm waste is due to be removed is not known. All that we know is that the recent hot weather is making the depot's remains smell incredibly bad, making it unpleasant for all those in the surrounding region.
