BYK expressed gratitude towards the emergency team and is already working on securing and cleaning-up the plant to resume production.
During the early morning of Sunday 27th August 2023, an explosion occurred in a tank farm at the Kempen (Germany) site of BYK-Chemie GmbH, followed by a fire. After successful firefighting by the local fire department and emergency services, the fire has been quickly extinguished and the company stated that the plant is currently being secured and the cleanup is initiated.
The population in the urban area surrounding the facility was asked not to stay outside during the fire-fighting operations, to close windows and doors and to switch off any ventilation systems. Fortunately, there have been no reports of intoxication among the residents, although three firefighters were slightly injured during the operations. However, they have all been already released from medical care. BYK has expressed sincere gratitude towards the emergency team involved.
“Our thanks go to the fire department and all the emergency services involved, whose rapid intervention quickly brought the fire back under control. We are glad that the firefighters who were slightly injured in the operation have already recovered,” has stated Michael Bessel, the head of the Kempen site. “The information and alerting chains worked very well. The cooperation with the fire department and all the emergency services and authorities involved on site was also excellent - so we would like to expressly praise and thank all the emergency services.”
The spilled substance is employed as raw material for manufacturing additives for paint and varnish applications. The investigation on the incident is currently underway, led by both external and internal experts and local authorities. Since it has not yet been completed, it is momentarily not possible to determine the cause of the fire. In close coordination with the authorities, BYK is already planning all necessary steps to rebuild production in parallel with the ongoing investigations in order to be able to return to normal operations as quickly as possible.
“We are currently working out a plan to minimise the impact of the fire on our customers. To this end, we are already in communication with our customers and are trying to process any delivery orders via our decentralised international production sites and central warehouses to minimize the possible impact of the fire on our customers. Considering this, we would like to thank our customers for their understanding and active cooperation,” has added Matthias Kramer, the production managing director of BYK.