In Lyon, around twenty firefighters are training to respond to fires comparable to that of the Lubrizol factory in 2019, where toxic products went up in smoke. Training and equipment that allow them to respond to potential attacks.
The training takes place twice a year in Lyon (Rhône). In the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, around twenty professional firefighters are called upon to intervene in Lubrizol-type factory fires, where tons of toxic products went up in smoke near Rouen in September 2019. They are also there in case of attack.
For their interventions, a specific truck is at their disposal. Top-of-the-range equipment, worth a million euros fully equipped, which ultimately remains quite spacious. We stand there and in groups. You have to imagine a laboratory on wheels. A work plan, analysis tools and computers are housed in this red truck, in the colors of the fire brigade. Its nickname is VDIP (Vehicle for Detection, Identification and Sampling). Already ten years of activity under the clock.
A truck mobilized for the Lubrizol factory fire in 2019
“In the case of Lubrizol, it is typically this truck which intervened to take gas samples. The idea is to provide a rapid response to the population by determining whether there is a risk or not”, details Sébastien Burtin, teacher at CPE Lyon, a chemical engineering school. It is also in front of the establishment, on campus, that we are stationed during the exercise. We move on to practical work, Sébastien Burtin gives the instructions: “We intervened on a scene where passers-by were walking. There were fences which were damaged on an abandoned industrial site and they noticed that there were puddles of products spreading. There was a slight smell and they noticed a little further away some ripped bags with powder which were present on the ground”.
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A first team intervened to package the samples, now tasking the day’s candidates with identifying them. Lieutenant Antoine Anchise, officer with the Rhône fire brigade, takes part in the exercise. “We have chromatography devices which will allow us to have a spectrum to be able to compare the different products against a database. This will show us the product and then we will be able to have a name. We will cross-check this information with different analytical techniques to be sure that we have the right product and to verify that there is no danger.”
Interventions in individuals and businesses
These firefighters, trained in chemistry, are called around twenty times a year to industrial sites and even to private homes. In an exceptional case, one day they had to analyze bottles of explosives that an individual had found in his garden, the day he was digging to build a swimming pool. But most often these are interventions in companies. Just recently in a metallurgy factory in Auvergne, they identified an extremely toxic volcanic gas which came from a natural source of carbonated water and which poisoned the air.
“On the removal of radiological, biological and chemical doubts, this may concern a package in the post office with a powder that spreads.”
Alexandra De La Hoz, chemical engineerat franceinfo
The contexts differ, but the challenge is always to remove doubt, explains Alexandra De La Hoz, who trains firefighters. “It can also be a threatening letter addressed to someone with a powder or liquid presentshe explains. And afterwards, the goal will really be to respond by ordering relief operations. Say if the risk is present or absent, of what nature, so that they can adapt the intervention and finish it in the best possible way.”
The challenge is in particular to respond to a potential attack
There is also the risk of attack. Fortunately, according to these rescuers, the case has not arisen so far, but they can be mobilized. “The VDIP was primarily created for the threat of attack or other”adds Alexandra De La Hoz. “However, fortunately, this is not the heart of our missions. But we are designed to respond to a potential attack.”
Back in the truck for the final debrief because during this time our firefighters worked on the practical case. And ultimately, the exercise was largely successful. These were coloring products, some of which were toxic. And if the case had arisen, the firefighters would have recommended to the prefect to destroy them and clean up the soil. It’s not just theory. This truck carries out around twenty interventions per year in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region alone and there are five others of the same type in France. All are subject to regular exercises to stay on top of efficiency.