Investigators find most probable cause of Paarl tragedy

Paarl Print has issued a statement to the effect that after a “comprehensive forensic investigation was completed into the cause of the fire” the devastated the company's facility in Paarl on 17 April this year, it was established that the fire probably originated from a chip fryer in the canteen, run by a private sub-contractor.

The investigation apparently found that the oil in the fryer appeared to have self-ignited within 30 minutes of being switched on that morning by a contractor in the canteen.

The investigation conclude that “the flames spread rapidly to the expanded polystyrene thermal sheets which lined the roof throughout the plant”, and in the ensuing fire, “several people died”.

Normal start to the day, then…

Stephen van der Walt, CEO of Paarl Media said that the early morning of 17 April 2009 began as usual… “Video footage just before 8am shows the team at Paarl Print doing the handover from the evening shift to the day shift as they set out to co-ordinate the day's activity," said Van der Walt.

"Tragically, in the next thirty minutes a large percentage of the facility was engulfed in smoke and destroyed by fire which resulted in several members of the Paarl Print family losing their lives, leaving many others injured. The question on everybody's mind was how it was possible for this to have happened in an area of the facility which was mainly constructed from steel and brick away from flammable substances," he added.

Fryer fire the trigger

Van der Walt said that immediately following the fire, independent forensic fire experts began working to establish the cause of the conflagration and the reasons for its extremely rapid spread. “Detailed simulations were conducted by the forensic fire experts in an effort to reconstruct the area where the fire started. The most probable cause of the fire appears to have been the spontaneous ignition of heated cooking oil in the canteen area, which was independently operated by a sub-contractor,” he said, adding “The heat released from the cooking oil was sufficient to pre-heat, impinge on and cause the ignition of the thermal roof insulation material installed in the building. The thermal roof insulation material, once on fire, produced vast quantities of smoke which rapidly filled the building and resulted in extremely poor visibility."

Van der Walt says that initial and subsequent media reports to the effect that a paper dust explosion had resulted in the rapid spread of the fire throughout the facility were fully investigated and may now be discounted.

“It has also been confirmed that the rapid fire spread was unrelated to materials used by Paarl Print and the printing industry generally," said Van der Walt.

Thermal roof insulation tested, replaced

He said it is clear from the investigation that the ignition of the insulation material was directly responsible for the smoke and fire's rapid spread, resulting in several casualties.

In order to prevent a repetition of the tragedy, the Paarl Media Group says it has had the thermal roof insulation material of all of its 11 factories tested and where similar insulation material was found, it is being replaced as a priority with an improved fire retardant insulation material.

"As previously reported the shareholders of Paarl Print contributed to a trust fund to assist the dependents of affected employees. The extent of these payments to each dependent has been finalised and payments are being made to them. The additional Third Party Trust fund has distributed nearly all its assets to the bereaved families.

"Our thoughts remain with the families of the deceased and those injured and we trust that this investigation will bring some form of closure to all aggrieved persons," Van Der Walt concluded.