The second major fire at a German chemical production site in less than a month broke out at the ChemPark chemical industry park at Leverkusen on the evening of Nov. 12. However, Currenta, which operates the site for owners Bayer and Lanxess, said there were no injuries and that air measurements showed no toxic emissions.

Fire brigades from the park as well as the cities of Leverkusen and Cologne needed more than five hours to extinguish the blaze that began in a warehouse of Momentive Performance Materials, where siloxanes and solvents were being filled. The US-based company, parts of which once belonged to Bayer, produces silicones and advanced materials.

Residents of neighboring towns were advised to keep windows and doors closed until the all-clear alert was given early the next morning. The strong odor the fire generated was attributed to soot formation. Due to the chemical content of firefighting water, Currenta also had to sound the required alarm for discharges into the River Rhine. All shipping activity in a segment of the Rhine was halted.

A cause of the fire had not been determined at press time and no damage estimate had been reported.