Avellino
by Paola Iandolo
The staff of the Flying Squad of the Avellino Police Headquarters carried out the order of the Judge for the preliminary investigations of the Court of Avellino with which the preventive seizure of an industrial warehouse of the factory ME.RES. Ltd., at the compliant request of this Office, converting the evidentiary seizure ordered following the fire that occurred on 19 October 2023.
The fire
In particular, on the night of 19 October 2023, a fire occurred in one of the new industrial warehouses, measuring approximately 2600 m2, which make up the ME.RES factory. Srl located in the Pianodardine area of the Municipality of Avellino; Following the fire, all the equipment and materials inside the warehouse were completely destroyed. The load-bearing structures of the warehouse suffered serious damage, although no collapse phenomena occurred. The panels forming the roof of the building, also involved in the fire, were seriously damaged and partly destroyed by the fire. The fire then spread outside the warehouse, also affecting the material stored in the yard and an articulated lorry; the fire was put out following the intervention of the Fire Brigade teams. of Avellino with several tankers.
The investigations
During the investigations, in addition to the acquisition of documentation and the gathering of information, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Avellino proceeded to confer an expert assignment, in order to ascertain the methods, cause, dynamics and development of the fire. The conclusion was thus reached, based on the state of the investigations and without prejudice to further developments, that the fire was caused by thermal phenomena associated with electricity (attributable to a short circuit or a failure of the machine or other components). Excluding the arson of the fire, the profiles of possible liability borne by the legal representatives of the Company and the designer of the variant of the roof covering project were nevertheless reconstructed, again compatibly with the investigation phase.
The suspects
The measure was thus notified to S.L. cl. 1992, as CEO of ME.RES.; SR cl. 1980, plant manager; SELF cl. 1960 Head of Prevention and Protection Services; SC. cl. 1951, Construction manager. The aforementioned, for fault consisting of negligence, imprudence and incompetence as well as in violation of workplace safety regulationswould have contributed to causing a fire of vast proportions and/or in any case the spread of the flames in the external square and inside one of the factory’s warehouses.
The causes
The investigative findings allow us to state, at the state of the investigations, that the roof covering of the warehouse was made of panels with polyurethane material inside, without the installation of 18 smoke and heat extractors with automatic opening in case of temperatures above sixty-eight degrees, devices that fall within the active fire protection measures whose implementation would have prevented the spread of the fire. In fact, during the execution of the works it was foreseen the modification of the type of roofing, from the original solution to that of “sandwich” panels with a row of polycarbonate panels. The changes made to the roofing system which had changed the fire reaction characteristics of the materials and also led to the modification of the ventilation and active protection systems, had not previously been subjected to a new evaluation by the Fire Brigade. Furthermore, the commissioning of the industrial activity inside the warehouse had taken place without having submitted the SCIA report for fire safety purposes, or in the absence of the necessary “Fire Prevention Certificate” (CPI) and the necessary controls aimed at ensure compliance with the provisions of the fire prevention legislation, also for the protection of workers; furthermore, the Fire Brigade would have verified the failure to implement the Natural Smoke and Heat Ventilation System, foreseen in the project but not implemented, the installation of which would have prevented the fire from spreading to the entire structure of the warehouse. The violations found left the warehouse without safeguards which could have ensured a sufficient level of safety in the workplace.
