Buncefield Oil Fire UK

Well good morning everybody, some of you may be aware that there has been an explosion here in the UK at the countries 5th largest oil depot.

Buncefield is located behind me at a couple of miles distance. The blast happened at 6am and was hear over 100 miles away in Norfolk, even in the hustle and bustle of central London. The shockwave's done a lot of local damage (photo 3 & 5 which were brand new warehouse complexes... not any longer - shredded like paper). I hate to think what Breakspear Park looks like

I'll try and get you all some exclusive photo's. Attached are some from the TV.

Luckily the smoke plume is heading West, and I'm North. Out in front of me its a hazy but clear (freezing cold) Winters day. Behind me it is black as midnight almost. Sunrise was pretty impressive.











The site holds Kerosene and consumer petroleum / diesel. They think it's the petroleum that's gone up. According to some worker they just had on the news the main storage well up there holds 13 638 m3 of fuel (3 million UK gallons for the old hands)... which seems a like an overly exagerated number... any then some.

EDIT: Satellite Photo as of 1105GMT:




EDIT2: The police are getting jittery, and talking about a 10 mile cordon... Im at 2.5 - 3 miles.
Anyway, I sent my camera with someone who went up a hill to take some photo's (mile or two further out):







EDIT 3:

WOW! Was anyone hurt? Do you know how it happened? That is scary!

That looks awful. The atmosphere is going to suffer around you for quite a bit. Those pics are amazing, nothing like a PAL TV signal for clarity.

I hope and pray the casualties are minimal and I hope they don't evac your area. It's awful to be forced out of where one lives. It happened to me in 1978 when a rail car with poison left the tracks.

Have they assigned causation? Human error, deliberate or act of terror?

BTW, where you live, minus the disaster, looks like a beautiful area. But I don't see any snow. (Trying to impart a glint of sunlight into the dark.)

edit: Have the petrol prices at the pumps spiked? I'll bet they will and of course, a huge shortage of gas will be the reason they use.

Edited by wallythacker 2005-12-11 10:52 AM

That is very scary... I have seen up close forest fires, but an oil fire? And it was only a few kilometres from your home... I really hope there are as few casualties as possible...

oh, at a loss for words.. really scary but interesting pics... wondering what it could feel like, being so close to the explosion...

Catastrophic accident.

I'll have some new photo's for you in a minute, I went up there and had a gawp. The air is acrid even down wind.

45 injuries, only 2 serious - a tribute to the emergency planning and the fact that it was 6am Sunday not a weekday.

There are one or two idiots swarming petrol stations, however there are many other oil storage areas in the country, and we have sufficient stockpiled. Petrol was 84.9 yesterday, and it's currently 84.9.

It's a 100 achre site with 34 tanks, each holding 13.600 m^3 oil and the entire north end has vanished.

This is a photo of Canary Wharf, which is one of the docks in London - where London's tallest building is... you are looking at Londons Tallest building....








The building on the left here is Dixon's HQ, 3Com's is next to it.

Some shots from my digital camera... not many came out... but they are opportunist.

This is the largest fire in Europe since the war.

So Chris, put this in perspective from a daylight perspective....

Is the "darkness" of the shots from the smoke or from the time of day (or both)?

Oh my gosh, C:Amie... Is that close to outside your home?

The answer is both, it is pitch black outside now though anyway.

Yes, that's a mile up the road - towards the source

Someone else with a HPC in the UK!
Thought i was the only one...

I'm halfway up England so am not being affected, but was driving past on the way back from a school trip and felt the boom on the M1 - they're saying it was felt as far as 40 miles away, and will keep burning for a few days, even if the try to tackle it.

People are panic-buying - i dont know why though. There's safety features in place for this (tank (the ones that didnt blow up) contents are pumped to other locations by remote control, emergency seals split off burning pipelines by remote and other stuff). Thats what causes the fuel crisises.

Wonder what caused it?











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The satellite photo was the one that really amazed me. To see that big a smoke cloud from that far above the planet is really sobering.

First off, sheesh - that's a big fire. it's a huge tribute to the emergency planning that so little suffered injury. It's affecting a lot of people, and travelling around that area today will be fun (for a given, warped value of "fun".

All the same, an attempt at some humour in dark times :



Oh goodness, I do hope Pooh, Piglit, Tigger, Owl, Kanga, Roo, Eeyore and all their mates will be OK!

Dixons hq next door eh? Perhaps we could apply the flames to their feet, lock,stock style and force them to employ staff that had a clue, and weren't out to hoodwink people into buying extended warranties by using scare tactics on the people who are trusting them for good advice. Fair makes my blood boil when I see Dixons staff selling an overseas student an extended warranty on a laptop, explaining "you need it in this country"...

Good pics Chris, thanks for those

I am worried that the cloud might come down this far, it probably will if the wind blows hard enough!! They said that the cloud will be heading south, so far, its stayed well away from West Sussex (Where I am).

I am also glad that I was in Birmingham on the 3/4th December, otherwise, I think that blast would of caused absolute chaios on the West Coast Main Line! (Yes C:Amie, I was passing your neck of the woods last week, I sampled a Pendolino and I wish they swapped 'em for Loco Hauled Stock (Something like the more recent 2005 Northampton Cobblers!), oh and to make things interesting, the 07:39 off Euston stuck at Watford Jn. for about 20 minutes, while someone fiddles with the front of the train, those tilters leave a lot to be desired (sigh).

(Oh and Tanyas party hasn't gone ahead yet, I am currently snowed under with work, my LJ post explains - It may hang in the ballance!)