The prefecture of Normandy assured, Tuesday, October 1, during a press conference, that there was no "proven risk" related to asbestos in the air, according to the first surveys conducted Friday at the day after the Lubrizol chemical plant fire in Rouen. In addition, "160 barrels in delicate condition" have yet to be removed from the industrial site, said the prefect of Normandy, Pierre-André Durand.

"As for asbestos in the air, we are on the background noise of asbestos fibers in the air, extremely low levels," said Patrick Berg, director of the Regional Directorate of Environment , Planning and Housing of Normandy. "We can estimate that with this first series of readings, there is no risk related to asbestos.This risk is not proven."

These air samples were made by the company Lubrizol "Friday at his expense," according to the same source. "What is dangerous for health is asbestos fibers in the air," recalled Patrick Berg. "The barrels under the effect of the heat exploded and shattered (a) fiber cement roof and sprayed fibro-cement fragments at fairly large distances" but "this projection does not diffuse asbestos fibers into the air ", assured the senior official.

>> See also: Fire in Rouen: associations protest to "demand the truth"

"A protocol in the process of being finalized"

Patrick Berg said that the 160 damaged drums "contain a product that includes sulfur and whose heating can produce mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which is much more toxic than the mercaptan". "Mercaptan and H2S are compounds of concern" but "it has not been detected," he said.

For these 160 drums, "an intervention protocol is being finalized", explained the prefect, Pierre-André Durand. It will allow, according to him, in the coming days, the evacuation of these barrels "which participate in emanations of smells".

The sheet of oil, oil, foam and water that remains on the site and is causing the unpleasant smell in Rouen and its agglomeration is being pumped, added the prefect. "The pumping
(...) will continue in the days to come until the bad smells disappear, "he insisted.

"What is the list of products that burned?"

Faced with the debate over the necessary transparency due to a worried population, the Prime Minister announced that the list and quantity of products that burned on this industrial site would be made public Tuesday.

The nature of the products stored in the 1,300 or so French Seveso sites is not intended to be disclosed because of the terrorist risk, especially since an attempted attack in 2015 on an Air Products site in Isère. Édouard Philippe has
however, indicated to the Assembly that he was lifting this restriction for Rouen.

The former Minister of Ecology Delphine Batho, President of Generation Ecology, lamented on France Inter "a chain of inaccuracies, approximations, omissions". "What is the list of products that burned?" She asked.

Several hundred demonstrators

David Cormand, national secretary of Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV), asked France 2 "an epidemiological health monitoring of populations". "We should have started to do it with blood tests, take urine samples so that there is a follow-up in time, it was not done."

In parallel, several hundred people demonstrated Tuesday in Rouen to claim "the truth" about the consequences on the health and the environment of the fire.

Rouen's public prosecutor's office announced Tuesday that "to date more than 40 complaints" following the fire had been "transmitted" or were "being transmitted".

The Rouen public prosecutor's office has divested itself in favor of the public health unit of the Paris public prosecutor's office because of the technical nature of the file and the "number of complaints for endangering others".

With AFP and Reuters