1. Scenario 1: fire

The risk of fire is omnipresent in industrial facilities: the majority of installations subject to authorization and/or to the SEVESO 2 directive, as well as facilities storing organic products likely to generate explosive atmospheres (such as silos, one of the national priorities since the Blaye explosion in 1997), numerous chemical establishments, small oil depots, etc., are all at risk.

As a phenomenon, fire dominates the accidentology "hit parade": 863 accidents notified to BARPI in 1999, or 59% of the total, described a fire (compared with 49% over the 1992-1998 period).