Sofidel Provides Update on Fire at its Leicester Hamilton Tissue Mill

On Friday, November 17, a fire occurred at the Sofidel Group's Leicester Hamilton UK) tissue factory.

The personnel evacuation was immediate and there was no report of anyone harmed, nor were there any environmental consequences. The evacuation of the production site, and the firefighters taking over, was carried out according to the emergency procedures in place and agreed with all relevant authorities.

It has been established without doubt, thanks to the closed circuit television (CCTV) system, that the origin of the fire was accidental. The incident was then formally closed by firefighters, who then returned full accessibility of the site to the company.

The fire has mainly affected the external insulation of some of the roof covering and some façades of the buildings. No structural damage has occurred to buildings or to production facilities.

One of the two paper machines was expected to be restored within the week; the second requires checks on the electrical distribution systems that, although not directly affected by the fire, need cleaning and restoration to ensure full reliability.

At present, it is assumed that the production of the second paper machine will be restored by the end of the year; as a result of annual maintenance already scheduled in December.

The site’s converting lines were not affected by the fire and therefore continue to work on a regular basis.

The temporary stop of Leicester plants will not cause customer disruption, thanks to finished and printed polyethylene stocks that have remained intact, as well as the supply of paper reels from other Sofidel paper mills being directed to UK converting plants.

Therefore, all converting lines, and thus the production of finished products destined for customers, have not suffered damage – they are in production and no customers will be affected. The incident has only created minor issues with the paper machines.