 Just a few months after Chernobyl, the Rhine would run blood red as 400 km of the river became contaminated, killing all wildlife within. In November 1986, a fire at the Sandoz agrochemical storehouse in the Frazerhaler industrial complex Basel Landschaft, Switzerland would show the risks of poor storage of chemicals in a building not originally designed for this purpose. The incident would also show the side effects of such a fire as the water used to fight it would mix with the chemical stored and run off into the Rhine and contaminate the nearby soil. I'm going to rate this incident here number 6 on the Paintington Plainly Difficult Disaster Scale. Warehouse number 954 in 1986 was used for chemical storage in Frazerhaler industrial complex measuring 90 by 50 meters. It was originally built as a machinery storage area. Because of this, the building lacked proper smoke detection and sprinkler systems, essential safety systems for chemical storage. The building contained around 1246 tonnes of phosphoric acid insecticides, rhodicides, herbicides, fungicides, prussian blue, emulsifiers, stabilizers, solvents, dodecyl benzene and aminosulfuric acid monophenamine. Now the cause of the fire has been disputed with even the East German Starzy being accused. But it is thought the ignition point was prussian blue during packaging for storage on the evening of 31st October 1986. The process at the time involved wrapping the pigment in a plastic sheet, shrink wrapped using a blowtorch. During the wrapping, the workmen didn't notice that some of the material was caught by the open flame of the blowtorch. The slow burning material was flameless and smokeless, progressing unnoticed until just after 12 midnight on the 1st of November. And emergency services were called. 160 firefighters attended the scene and ferociously fought the flames. The option of letting the warehouse burn down was not allowed due to phosphine being stored in a nearby warehouse. Because of this, the fire had to be put out as quick as possible to prevent the highly potent poisonous gas from escaping nearby. As such, large amounts of water was used for the firefighting efforts, which would be successfully competed at 3.40am. However, by this time, warehouse 954 had collapsed. Nearby Basil was awoken by an emergency alert as a foul smelling gas cloud from the blaze was spread across the area. Locals were told not to leave their homes and to close all windows and doors, although this alert was lifted around 7am when the smoke was thought to be non-fatal. It wouldn't be the air so much as the water that would be heavily polluted and it would be the very water used to douse the flames that would cause the disaster. The highly toxic mercury compounds were present as fungicides in sea dressings in the warehouse and were marked with fluorescent red dye Rodamine B. The toxic compounds mixed with the water and flooded the area, making its way into the drains. The Schreiser Hully Industrial Site had seals that could be closed in the event of an oil spill to prevent effluent from making its way to the Rhine. This is a very useful safety system, although on that fateful night, they were not operated. Between 10,000 and 15,000 cubic meters of contaminated fluid flowed into the Rhine, around 30 tons of pesticides, insecticides and around 200 kilograms of mercury were released. Initially, the contamination was announced as just non-toxic dye, but this would be proven wrong. On the 3rd of November, sandals emitted to the amount of toxic discharge into the Rhine. Just two days later, thousands of eels were reported to have died. The pollution by now has spread to around 400 kilometers of the Rhine's water course and water taken for drinking was cut off necessitating bottled water to be handed out. The pollution waves spread disulfolton and thiameton. As a side note, estimated lethal dose in humans of disulfolton is less than 5 milligrams per kilogram. Not only the pollution had affected the eel population, but also grailing, brown trout, pike and pike perch had experienced significant damage. Businesses along the damaged waterway shut down. On the 18th, clean up works to clear the toxic sludge began. Soil was cleaned with special vacuum cleaners in order to prevent it from being washed away with the next flood. Eventually, the remains of the contaminants were washed away and surprisingly the local animal population had already started to replenish itself within three months. Remediation of the fire site where the warehouse once stood and the contaminated soil took about six years were around 2,700 tons of semi-combustive material needing to be disposed of. Around 9 tons of pesticides and 130 kilograms of organic mercury had infiltrated the soil surrounding the warehouse. Pollution was detected at depths of up to 11 meters below ground level. Contaminants were removed and sandals installed a shed with a special off-gas system for storage. The disaster eroded away public confidence in the self-regulation of the chemical industry in Switzerland. As a direct result from the fire, the Swiss government set up a major accident ordinance and chemical safety inspectors. One example of the new regulations was for storage sites to install a basin to collect firefighting water. Some other rules included substances which may react with one another in a dangerous manner. For example, large amounts of burnable materials must be stored separately. Based on a risk register, around 200 operations with a chemical hazard potential were identified in Switzerland and subjected to the new regulations. The disaster eventually ended up with a net benefit for the local ecosystem as it forced operators and the Swiss government to actively monitor the Rhine. If the proactive measures enacted post-event ever failed, a Rhine international warning and a land system was set up with the idea of being able to react almost instantly. Even though no human deaths were linked to the spill, the risk to life can't be understated. As environmental risks shown at Sandos is only one fire away. I've got Patreon and YouTube membership as well, if you fancy supporting the channel financially. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching.