Polyethylene Plant Fire Breaks Out in Sweden

Firefighters labored more than eight hours to extinguish a fire Saturday night in a processing unit at a polyethylene plant in west Sweden.

The fire producing heavy smoke started about 8:45 p.m. in a compressor at the Borealis plant in Stenungsund, the local rescue service reported via Facebook. Stenungsund is a small community 50 kilometers north of Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city.

A steam cracker served by the compressor was immediately shut down, the Borealis website reports. In-plant responders partnered with the municipal rescue service who took charge of the response operation.

By 9:15 p.m. responders had verified that no one had been injured, the website reports. Shortly before 10 p.m., authorities triggered a warning siren notifying residents in the vicinity to go indoors and keep doors and windows closed.

At 5:15 a.m. Sunday the rescue service reported that the fire had been extinguished, allowing the shelter-in-place alert to be cancelled.

Borealis is the only polyethylene manufacturer in Sweden. The plant produces high-tech high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene and products used in the cable and pipe markets.