24 employees of the printing house suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.
On Wednesday, February 9, in the French city of Chamalieri, a fire broke out in the historic printing house of the Bank of France, where most of the 20 euro banknotes were printed and put into circulation.
This is reported by the publication France Bleu Pays d'Auvergne, posting a video from the scene of the fire.
According to preliminary information, the fire originated in a laboratory located in the production workshop, at the back of the printing house.
The fire made its way to the roof of the building and clouds of smoke rose above the money factory. To extinguish the fire, 60 firefighters were involved, and a security perimeter was built around the building.
On social media, the prefecture urged residents in the city to stay at home and not open windows due to significant smoke.
As a result of the incident, 24 employees of the printing house were injured, who inhaled smoke. Four of them had to be hospitalized. Whether the banknotes were damaged by the fire is not reported.
Un incendie touche l'imprimerie de la Banque de France à Chamalieres. Plus d'informations à venir sur @FBAuvergne pic.twitter.com/9Php5Y8MCB
— France Bleu Pays d'Auvergne (@FBAuvergne) February 9, 2022
It is known that the Banque de France printing house has been based in Chamalieri for over 100 years. At least 2.5 billion banknotes are produced there annually. Most of the 20 euro banknotes that were put into circulation were printed here.
Recall that earlier, for unknown reasons, a large-scale fire broke out in the warehouses of the Skoda automobile concern in the vicinity of the Czech capital of Prague. According to preliminary calculations, the damage caused to the enterprise reaches more than 40 million dollars.
