Locals sceptical of Indaver fire safety

As the Bord Pleanála oral hearing continued, in Carrigaline, yesterday, local residents asked how Indaver would handle an explosion in Cork.

Ringaskiddy where the planned new Indaver incinerator will be located. Picture: Denis Scannell

In February, a fire broke out at the company’s Antwerp plant, in Belgium, when a tanker exploded.

Indaver’s crisis-management team intervened, and had all 117 staff off-site before the fire broke out. The fire was extinguished within four hours, preventing a major crisis. Indaver said plans for the proposed Ringaskiddy site take into account a number of “worst-case scenario” events, and while they do not anticipate them, they are prepared.

Objectors were concerned that if a fire broke out, the run-off from water used to fight it could pick up contaminants and flow outside theIndaver site.

However, the company said that while similar concerns existed in Antwerp, the water used there was collected, gathered into a safe site, assessed, and processed within a few days.

Indaver also clarified a fire-safety plan would be put in place on-site, with a fire-safety officer ensuring it met all relevant safety regulations.

However, the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (Chase) said it had “no faith” in Indaver to ensure safety at the site.

Mary O’Leary said residents were concerned by some of the eventsIndaver were preparing for: “They have modelled for a six-day fire, where they would, possibly, have to move people from the local area. That has huge implications for people, and things like the Haulbowline navy base.” She said the company’s experts had failed to convince locals the plant would be safe.

“We don’t feel any safer now than we did at the beginning. They haven’t proven themselves,” she said, and claimed the company had failed to carry out a proper health assessment.

“The fact that they didn’t do that says to us, as a community, that they don’t care or they don’t want to know,” she said. Today, the Defence Forces will raise their concerns, due to the proximity of the proposed incinerator to Haulbowline.