Lessons learned from a fire at a Hydrogen 200 bar filling station

Sharing lessons learned is a priority to build safety standards and culture among the hydrogen ecosystem. On the 30th of July 2020 at 5:15 pm, a high pressure leak was heard by two operators in a hydrogen filling station in France coming from a filling station. A fire broke out on a 200 bar hydrogen semi-trailer (composed of 4 bundles of 60 cylinders) being under filling operation at 178 bar. There were no injuries but the material consequences of the fire were severe: 11 cylinders within one bundle bursted and two adjacent hydrogen trailers partially burnt.

Emergency organization plans and the “important for safety elements” worked efficiently. The main side effects, some metal parts from the frame steel plates projected, remained inside the site, without any further domino effect.

The root cause analysis showed that most probably a small leak on fitting caused a rupture of a pigtail which induced a hydrogen jet fire, igniting the tyres and causing the cylinders to burst.
Lessons learned concerns the trailer design and maintenance and recommendations for new filling centers design.