The money wouldn't smell, but the cloud was awesome.

“The fire reportedly broke out in a laboratory located in a workshop dedicated to banknote design.

It then spread to the rest of the building and impacted 300 square meters,” says

La Montagne

.

The Banque de France printing press in Chamalières (Puy-de-Dôme) was hit on Wednesday morning by a violent fire.

At the time of the incident, 387 people were present on the site.

Thirty-four people were slightly injured and ten victims were evacuated to Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital, including two firefighters.

Thick smoke was visible for miles around.

About 70 firefighters and 24 machines were mobilized.

A local resident filmed the start of the fire at the Banque de France in Chamalières.

🎥 Alex Eisenzammer pic.twitter.com/ZueBxGN5g1

— Catherine Lopes (@lacatch) February 9, 2022

Some 2.5 billion banknotes are printed in this building each year.

Slightly more than half of the production concerns euros (the majority of the 20 euro banknotes put into circulation in the Euro Zone), the rest being composed of other currencies such as the CFA franc, in Africa.

There will “necessarily” be a judicial inquiry

“There will inevitably be an impact” on ticket production but “we are not worried because the overall productive tool has not been affected.

It will be necessary to put in place appropriate measures (…) it could have been worse”, commented the director of the site, Pierre-Yves Boissinot.

The prefect announced that there would "necessarily" be a judicial inquiry to find out the reasons for the disaster.

Planned for several years, the move of the printing plant and its approximately 700 employees to the Vic-le-Comte site (Puy-de-Dôme) must be confirmed in the coming months, to take place by 2026.

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  • Aquitaine

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