The Associated Press
By BETH GARDINER
Associated Press Writer
LONDON — The enormous oil depot fire north of London is prompting questions about safety at huge chemical and industrial plants, including the wisdom of allowing such facilities in densely populated areas after July’s terrorist bombings underscored Britain’s vulnerability to attacks.
The country’s five biggest oil depots are all in or near major metropolitan areas, making the consequences of any accident or terror attack potentially catastrophic. Some critics worry the emergency services are insufficiently prepared for such disasters.
The July bombings on London’s transit system killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers, and put Britons on edge. A recent al-Qaida video called for attacks on oil facilities last week, highlighting the need for heightened security measures — even though this week’s fire is being treated as an accident.
Though safety procedures at oil depots are generally rigorous, it’s impossible to eliminate risk at plants that store large amounts of volatile fuel. If vapor leaks from a tank, even an invisible spark — like that inside a mobile phone — can set off a major inferno, said Ian Arbon, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
“Perhaps what is necessary is to rethink the way we do things fundamentally,” he said. “Is it wise to store that much fuel in one place? Is it wise to store that much fuel close to residential areas or motorways?”
Buncefield, where explosions Sunday touched off three days of fires, is Britain’s fifth-largest oil depot and a major hub in the nation’s fuel pipeline network. All of the five biggest depots are near major cities — three are close to London, and the two others are near Glasgow, Scotland, and Liverpool.
The dangers posed by those facilities have increased in recent years, with suburban sprawl placing people ever closer to the plants. When it was built in 1968, the Buncefield depot, 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside the capital, was surrounded by farmland. Now 80,000 people in the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead push up against its outer rim, with houses a few hundred yards (meters) away. An industrial park beside it employs 20,000 people.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s office, responsible for regional planning, said it was too soon to discuss whether the fire should prompt a reexamination of where such plants are placed.
Critics say emergency services have failed to keep up with the growing risks. Britain’s Fire Brigades Union slammed the local department’s response to the Buncefield blaze, saying firefighters lacked foam and specialized equipment they needed until supplies were brought in from elsewhere in the country.
“Quite simply, they didn’t believe they were going to have a fire,” said Duncan Milligan, the union’s spokesman.
The Hertfordshire Fire Authority defended its work, saying departments around the country keep some foam on hand and share when major blazes occur — a system it said worked well.
Bob Woodward, who is leading the government investigation, said he had had no “grave concerns” about Buncefield before the explosions.
Emily Ablett, a spokeswoman for Total U.K., the company that runs Buncefield, said it had excellent safety procedures in place and would cooperate with the investigation.
The investigation into the Buncefield blaze has barely begun. Teams will have to wait for the site to be made safe before they can begin examining it, and they may find the flames have left little forensic evidence.
It will likely be weeks or months before officials know what caused the fire, which injured 43 and created huge plumes and smoke that drifted as far as France. Two thousand people were temporarily displaced and 20,000 workers were shut out of their jobs at a nearby industrial park.
Investigators from the government Health and Safety Executive will have to begin with the basics — finding where explosive fumes leaked into the air and figuring out what ignited them.
But some of the depot’s neighbors, like Alice Wong, feared further danger.
“I’m worried about another explosion,” she said.