The fire started around 2:20 a.m. in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in a bus depot in Danjoutin near Belfort and near the A36 motorway, according to the prefecture. Seven hydrogen buses were destroyed after a fire which lasted until 8:30 a.m.
According to L'Est République, which speaks of an “impressive” fire, local residents, including in a town located 8 km from the site, heard explosions during the night, then saw smoke emerging. It appears that the fire only affected the building where the buses were parked but not the hydrogen recharging station which adjoins the depot.
Immediately, several precautionary measures were taken by the prefecture. Residents of the area were temporarily confined. “This confinement was put in place quickly as a preventive measure because we did not yet have all the test measures, particularly atmospheric, on hand, which is now the case. The confinement was lifted at 6 a.m. because the tests were negative within a 100 m radius around the fire,” explained Alain Charrier, prefect of the Territoire de Belfort, to France Bleu Belfort Montbéliard.
In addition, the results of atmospheric analyzes of fine particles carried out by ATMO at two stations in Belfort are negative. Concerning water, no marker suggests a major impact on the environment, indicates the prefecture in a press release. Tests on the Savoureuse upstream and downstream will be carried out all morning.
-An investigation has been opened to find out the origin of this disaster.
Belfort, which dreams of becoming the French capital of the hydrogen industry, launched its first non-polluting hydrogen electric buses in the summer of 2023 for its public transport, with the aim of equipping half of its fleet with them by to 2025. These buses, which are still underdeveloped, have a unit cost of nearly 700,000 euros, compared to around 280,000 euros for a diesel bus.
In fact, the Territoire de Belfort began at that time the creation of a carbon-free hydrogen production and distribution station located in Danjoutin. Its objective is both to meet the needs of industrialists and researchers but also to supply some of the buses of the Joint Public Transport Union (SMTC) running on hydrogen but also to develop housing heated using this carbon-free hydrogen.
