C-DRONE GUIDE · 25 AUGUST 2026
Drone and Used Tyre Storage Facility: ICPE Heading 2663, Fire Prevention and Stockpile Volume
A fire at a used tyre storage facility is unlike any other industrial fire : it can smoulder for weeks deep inside a pile before breaking through the surface, gives off thick black smoke loaded with pollutants that is hard to stop, and leaves a run-off of pyrolysis oil that threatens soil and groundwater long after the last visible flames are out. At this kind of site — a collection platform, a shredding-and-recovery centre or a buffer stock ahead of reprocessing — most of what an operator needs to check day to day is visible from the air : how the storage stacks are laid out, the height of the piles, whether the fire lanes are clear, and how much is actually stored. Here is what the drone documents at a used tyre storage facility, what it does not replace, and the prices.
Published on 25 August 2026, reviewed on 26 August 2026 — regulations in force as of August 2026.
Used tyre storage: ICPE heading 2663 and stacking-area layout rules
A facility that collects, stores or shreds used tyres falls in France under ICPE heading 2663, which covers the storage of tyres and of any product whose unit mass is at least 50 % polymers — plastics, rubber, elastomers, resins and synthetic adhesives — excluding warehouses already classified under heading 1510. The applicable regime is set by the volume that can be stored : between 1,000 and 10,000 m³, the facility falls under declaration, governed by the order of 14 January 2000 ; above 10,000 m³, it moves to registration, governed by the order of 15 April 2010.
Both texts impose a precise storage layout, designed to limit fire spread and ease access for the emergency services : each storage island of tyres is capped at 3,000 m² without an automatic extinguishing system, raised to 6,000 m² where the facility has one ; stacking height stays under 8 metres ; aisles at least 2 metres wide separate each island ; and at least a third of the ground area stays permanently free of any storage. A regular aerial survey — an orthophoto and 3D model of the whole facility — gives the operator a dated, measurable picture of each island's footprint, the spacing between them and the pile height, useful for checking over time that the layout still matches the approved plan, without ever relieving the operator of their own regulatory responsibility.
Measuring raw stockpile and shredded-rubber volume by photogrammetry
Counting whole-tyre piles or windrows of shredded rubber by eye, from the ground, gives only a rough order of magnitude : piles stack unevenly, are sometimes mixed by category (car, truck, agricultural, civil-engineering) and shift with every incoming delivery and every dispatch to a recovery outlet. A drone photogrammetric survey produces a 3D model of each storage island and calculates its volume with a precision far exceeding visual estimation — the same method detailed in our guide to drone stockpile volume measurement, developed for aggregate stockpiles in quarries and directly transposable to a stock of tyres or shredded rubber.
This volume measurement remains an internal management tool : tracking stock rotation, preparing a collection, or an inventory for an insurance declaration. It never substitutes for the regulatory weighbridge reading, the only figure recognised by the approved eco-organisations of the extended producer responsibility scheme for tyres — France Recyclage Pneumatiques and Tyval, coordinated since December 2024 by the Comité coordonnateur pour la collecte des pneumatiques (CCCP) — for reporting tonnage collected and treated.
Fire prevention: thermal patrol and its limits against self-heating
A tyre fire is feared precisely because it almost never starts at the surface : combustion typically begins deep inside a dense pile, fed by air pockets trapped between the carcasses where oxygen circulates slowly, and can smoulder for days, even weeks, before a plume of smoke or a smell gives the source away. A drone-mounted thermal camera reads a surface temperature : the cladding of a covered storage shed, the visible top of an open-air pile, a compaction zone in freshly shredded rubber that naturally warms up early in storage. It sees nothing of what is smouldering deeper down, exactly as with the self-heating of a grain silo detailed in our guide to thermal monitoring of grain silos : a periodic patrol complements human rounds and any fixed sensors, and never replaces them.
A research team led by Dhyey Joshi, published in 2024 in Frontiers in Environmental Science, trained several deep-learning models on aerial thermal and visible images of pile fire starts — the FLAME dataset, originally built for detecting fires in piled vegetation — reaching a detection accuracy above 97 % for the best-performing models (see the study on Google Scholar). The principle that emerges — combining a thermal image with a visible image to catch the very start of a pile fire rather than an already-developed blaze — directly shapes an effective monitoring patrol on a tyre facility : a regular pass over each storage island, comparison from one round to the next, and particular attention to keeping the 2-metre fire lanes clear, an issue our guide to end-of-life vehicle yards also covers for a comparable risk.
Method and prices
The mission runs half a day for a typical facility, a full day for a multi-island site with a shredding workshop. It starts with a briefing with the QHSE manager : the list of storage islands to cover, handling-equipment traffic (loaders, grapples), areas where shredding dust can reduce visibility, and a take-off point set clear of traffic lanes. The flight then runs a photogrammetric pass over all the islands for the orthophoto and volume measurement, a targeted thermal pass if included, and coverage of the shredding-and-recovery building where relevant. As with any mission on an industrial site, the prevention plan is settled before the flight, not on the day itself ; up-to-date professional liability insurance held by the contractor is a non-negotiable prerequisite.
2026 prices (excl. VAT) : €400 to €900 for a one-off stockpile measurement at a typical facility ; €900 to €1,800 for a full campaign combining volume measurement of every island, an orthophoto and a thermal pass ; €250 to €500 per visit for recurring monitoring where stock turns over quickly (several monthly measurements) ; €300 to €600 for a standalone thermal patrol. A travel charge applies beyond a 30 to 50 km radius. Request a quote stating the number of storage islands, the total storage area and the goal (stock tracking, fire prevention or a regulatory file).
Frequently asked questions
Can a drone survey measure pile height to check the regulatory 8-metre limit?
The 3D model from a photogrammetric flight gives a height estimate far more reliable than a visual guess from the ground, and can flag a pile approaching or exceeding the limit. This reading remains a monitoring and alert tool ; it never relieves the operator of their own regulatory responsibility for compliance with the layout approved in the declaration or registration file.
Does a thermal patrol detect deep self-heating inside a tyre pile?
It reads a surface temperature : cladding, the visible top of a pile, a compaction zone in freshly shredded rubber. A pocket starting deep inside a dense pile, fed by air trapped between the carcasses, often takes several days, even weeks, to show at the surface. A drone patrol complements human surveillance and any fixed sensors ; it never replaces them.
Is drone volume measurement recognised by the used-tyre EPR eco-organisations for reporting treated tonnage?
No. The regulatory figure recognised by the approved eco-organisations of the extended producer responsibility scheme for tyres remains the certified weighbridge reading. Drone volume measurement produces an indicative volumetric estimate, useful for a facility's internal management (stock rotation, preparing a collection), but it never substitutes for that declaration.