Fuel explosion throws a giant shadow

Analysts were last night trying to assess the environmental impact of a fuel depot explosion that caused the biggest industrial fire since the end of the Second World War as a vast cloud of smoke threatened to dump oil residues over large tracts of south-east Britain. The explosion at the Buncefield fuel terminal yesterday morning ignited millions of gallons of fuel and sent a thick plume of smoke across southern England and towards the Channel.

The fires could burn for days and the cost of the disaster and the subsequent clean-up operation is expected to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. The Environment Agency said the main areas of concern involved the potential for pollution to groundwater, rivers and streams and also damage to land quality which could occur if any of the substances, including kerosene, diesel, gas oil and gasoline, were to escape. Meteorologists also warned that soot falling in rainfall could contaminate grazing land. Peter Kidds, a forecaster at the Met Office, said it could result in milk from the south-east of England being un-usable. "This is going to affect grazing animals because the grass could be contaminated," he said.

The explosion happened shortly after 6am, ripping through the fuel terminal in Leverstock Green, close to Junction 8 of the Ml. Despite the severity of the blast, which sent flames shooting hundreds of feet into the sky, only two people were seriously injured among 43 casualties. The force of the blast was such that it could be heard up to 100 miles away, prompting fears of a terrorist attack or a plane crash, but Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley said police were treating the incident as an accident, despite the appearance on the internet four days ago of an al-Qaeda videotape calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil.

A security guard working at a nearby building reported smelling fumes moments before the blast. Raheel Ashraf said: "It was really bad. I had popped my head outside and smelled it there too, then it was difficult to tell if the smell was coming from inside or outside the building." He said that moments later there was a massive explosion. "It was awful. It was like you were in hell. The flames were as high as 200ft and kept rising. You could literally see the fire growing."

The depot - which holds millions of gallons of various fuels - also supplies Heathrow and Luton airports. About 2,000 people living nearby were evacuated, while police advised others to keep windows and doors closed because of the thick plume of smoke rising, clearly seen by satellite pictures as a thick blob dispersing east, west and southwards. Experts believe that the explosion may have occurred after fuel leaked from one of the tanks and vaporised. Hans Michels, professor of safety engineering at Imperial College London, said that although a malicious act, including terrorism, could not be ruled out, it was most likely to have been caused by either a crack in the wall of a tank or a computer problem with the oil pipeline. Each of the 20 tanks on the site is believed to hold three million gallons of fuel, worth an estimated £10 million.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1026