The sugar production season begins on May 4th with the transformation of syrup into sugar. This is preceded by the sugar beet season, which begins in mid-September. The latter is particularly important as it lasts only 80 days and is the only time when syrup is produced from sugar beet during the entire year (and thus, a major financial asset).
On May 5th, the following events took place:
- 1:30 a.m.: a technician on duty detected a fire starting in a turbo-generator unit in the boiler house
- 2:00 a.m.: the fire department arrived from a nearby town
- Between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.: EDF (public electricity provider in France) cut off the 225 kV breaker at the request of the firemen
- 5:25 a.m.: the fire was put out
