IVAR’s sorting facility, which was one of the world’s most advanced, sorted the residual waste of hundreds of thousands of people. Around 8,000 tonnes of plastic a year that could be recycled. Waste that cannot now be sorted and recycled, but must be burned. In a risk assessment from April 2015, the consulting company Branncon wrote that the risk of fire “does not increase if IVAR waste sorting facilities are established”. Branncon was engaged by IVAR on behalf of Forus Miljøpark. They were supposed to carry out fire technical assessments of four waste facilities located close to each other at Forus outside Stavanger. One of these facilities was the sorting facility that caught fire last Friday. The plant had not been built at the time the risk assessment was carried out, but construction started just nine months later – in January 2016. “Unlikely” The fire started in a pile of paper waste that had been sorted at source in private homes. This is clear from messages that IVAR has sent to the owner municipalities, and to which Aftenbladet has had access. IVAR is the inter-municipal company that takes care of the renovation in South Rogaland. In 2015, however, Branncon considered it “unlikely” that a fire in waste would be allowed to develop. The reason was that the extinguishing system would control or extinguish the fire, according to the report. Nevertheless, this is what happened last Friday: The gas-based extinguishing system was triggered, but the fire was still allowed to develop, according to the reports that Aftenbladet mentioned. news has previously written about the fire expert who warned against the use of gas as an extinguishing method in the sorting facility. At the time the risk assessment was carried out in 2015, it had not yet been decided which extinguishing system they would go for. In 2015, Branncon also assessed the consequences of a fire in waste to be “medium”. The consulting company thus concludes that the risk of fire is “acceptable” and gives the plant a green color, instead of yellow or red. Branncon was also the company that got the job of creating a fire concept for the building. The large fire was visible from a long distance. Here from a scheduled flight on its way to Sola Airport. Photo: news Will make new assessments IVAR has not had time to comment on the relevant risk report. Ingrid Nordbø, managing director, says – according to Aftenbladet – at an ongoing extraordinary board meeting that the most expensive and best solutions were consistently chosen when the facility was built. – I did not work at IVAR when it was built, but my impression of the builder’s attitude is that nothing should be spared here. Now that we have dug back into the decision documentation, my impression is still that that is the case, she says. Furthermore, she advises that IVAR will look at all assessments of extinguishing systems again. Ingrid Nordbø is CEO of IVAR. Photo: Odd Rune Kyllingstad / news Still investigating The police are still investigating the big fire. Acting section leader for intelligence and investigation at the Sørvest police district, Hege Aase Andreassen, tells news. They are still conducting interrogations, as well as collecting surveillance videos. Vidar Kristoffersen, who is the general manager of Branncon, tells news that he wants to answer all questions about their assessments, but will await the ongoing investigation. He does not wish to comment further on the matter. The fire in IVAR’s garbage facility at Forus has been filmed by many. 700 million The sorting facility at Forus is one of the world’s most modern facilities for residual waste. Since opening in 2019, the facility has enabled 350,000 residents to stop sorting plastic and instead throw it straight into the residual waste. The facility has cost over NOK 700 million to build, and has sorted out approximately 8,000 tonnes of plastic a year. The plastic waste is recycled and sold on to the plastics industry as a raw material.
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Consulting company assessed the risk of fire as low – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
