The crowd chanted, Lubrizol, guilty; the state, complicit, cars honked in solidarity and the citizens marched through the deserted streets, past the looming Gothic cathedral famously painted by Monet at different hours of the day.

Now we have learned that we live on top of a volcano, Dr. Fleury said.

We could die, and we could die in an industrial accident, she added.

And yet nobody has died, and many of the initial symptoms appear to have worn off. Few at the rally complained of having felt anything at all, or of feeling anything now. Some in Rouen are puzzled at the depth of the reaction.

This is a subject that mobilizes a kind of tension, said Guy Pessiot, a local historian who once ran Rouens tourism office. Theres a kind of permanent anxiety. Its the number one subject of conversation.

And yes, he said, theres a kind of hyper-reaction: Were all going to die 15 minutes ago.

He worried that the image of rotten Rouen, industrialized and smoke-filled Gustave Flaubert, the towns most famous native son, described smokestacks of factories pushing out immense brown plumes in Madame Bovary would return.

Bottled water still packs local supermarkets because residents are fearful of drinking what comes from the tap, and slight coughs set off alarms long after ailments linked to the blaze are not present.

The local prefect, the governments top representative, said soon after the fire that there was nothing to worry about.

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Fear Has Yet to Be Extinguished After Chemical Fire in France - The New York Times