ArcelorMittal France Assessing Cause of Blast-Furnace Fire at Dunkerque Site

By Pierre Bertrand

ArcelorMittal in France said Friday that it is investigating how a fire took hold Thursday at one of its blast furnaces in the north of the country.

At 1239 GMT yesterday, an incident occurred at its site in Dunkerque, causing a fire at blast furnace 4. No injuries were reported and production is halted while the area is secured, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal in France said.

With the support of external experts, teams will be assessing the site for several days to understand what took place, the spokesman said.

"To date, we must wait for the results of the expert assessments before deciding on the time frame for restarting the plant," he said.

The company is adapting its Dunkerque operations, running a single blast furnace, to reduce disruptions to customers, the spokesman said.

This fire is the second in eight days to hit the Luxembourg-based steelmaker. On March 22, blast furnace A at its plant in Gijon in northern Spain was damaged after a fire.

Write to Pierre Bertrand at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2023 11:46 ET (15:46 GMT)

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