A major fire at the German headquarters of global printing ink manufacturer Siegwerk has caused some restrictions in production but the company says operations are gradually resuming. 330 firefighters attended the blaze and two were hospitalised with injuries.
“A fire occurred in a production hall on the Siegwerk plant premises at around 09:15 on May 22, 2021,” said a company statement. “According to initial findings, the fire ignited during a solvent transfer operation and consequently spread inside the building. Investigations into the exact cause are still ongoing.
“As ordered by the district government, Siegwerk has an efficient plant fire department that was able to intervene immediately. Further direct support came from the public fire department of the city of Siegburg as well as from surrounding fire departments from the Rhine-Sieg region. A total of around 330 firefighters were deployed.
“Due to the massive and targeted firefighting effort and the quick and prudent intervention of the fire departments, the fire was finally limited to one production room and the spread of the fire to other buildings was prevented."
The two firefighters injured in the operation have since left hospital.
“We would like to take this opportunity to once again express our sincere thanks to all the emergency services for their excellent cooperation at the scene," the company said. "In particular, we would like to emphasize the unprecedented readiness and flexibility with which the colleagues of the plant fire department and the area public fire departments who came directly to Siegwerk to support the operation, some of them on their free time.
“In the meantime, production operations at Siegwerk have also gradually resumed, with some restrictions. At this time, we are unable to provide any information on the damage caused.”
In February 2021, Siegwerk was facing price pressure from raw materials, which had “severely impacted the overall raw material supply chain.”
