Page 1 of Explosion At Oil Depot

Police report casualties after three large explosions at an oil depot near Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire. Massive balls of fire in the sky.

My thoughts are with the Fire Service who will be tackling these blazes. I know first hand what they are facing.

Brubby.

The photographs and video being sent in to the news stations are pretty terrifying and spectacular. A lady who was one of the first people to call in said the front of her house is "gone" and she was a mile away; loads of smashed windows and buckled/blown in front doors too. :(

From the eye-witness reports people heard it in other counties!

Yep, thoughts with the Firemen and with the workers and residents affected.

Any members woken up by it?

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www.soundalikes.com/

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th December 2005, 07:24

looks bad. :(

If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything BTTF

Some first-hand pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/innkue/sets/1554368/

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th December 2005, 10:24

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From the eye-witness reports people heard it in other counties!

I`m in Croydon and was up and fully awake at the time, and I heard it very clearly. Thought a something big like a cupboard had fallen off the wall in the flat downstairs. There was a half second rumbling noise and everything rattled in my kitchen!

It woke me up in North London, about 25 miles away. Looks pretty spectacular on the tv. Makes you wonder if it is wise to store aviation fuel so close to towns and people... it is likely the M1 will be shut for a couple of days while it burns itself out, which will cause traffic chaos accross a whole section of the country. :/

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My thoughts are with the Fire Service who will be tackling these blazes

My thoughts are with those who have suffered life threatening injuries, or been badly burned in this accident, and the locals who have had their properties damaged, rather than the fire brigade sat in their `command centre` about a mile away just letting it burn itself out. They aren`t even attempting to `tackle the blaze` Sorry, i get fed up with the fireman hero worship that goes on over here. >:(



The Bigman Cometh

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th December 2005, 11:04

They are letting it burn out because it`s the only way to do it. It would take millions of gallons of foam to attempt to even try to put it out. They will have cut off supplies of fuel. Their job at the moment will be to stop the fire spreading to surrounding areas..

The command post is always set up away from the fireground in case of further explosions. If the OIC`s were at the fireground and something happened who would command the incoming firefighters? I guess you have never been a firefighter BigmanInc because you don`t know what you are talking about.

You don`t get the Generals on the front line with the troops do you>

Brubby.

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Sorry, i get fed up with the fireman hero worship that goes on over here.

Have you ever:

put out a fire?

worn full BA kit & gone in to controlled simulations to fire fight or perform search & rescue operations, including crawling through obstacles relying only on touch?

had to contend with the full heat of a fire, while wearing very heavy clothing to protect you?

pushed a fire back using 2 hoses, while the flames shoot into the area of low pressure at the centre of the nozzles & fly back out away from you following the spray of the water, while a firefighter crawls in the "safe space" being created to shut off the oil supply feeding the fire?

I have in the past spent a day on basic offshore fire training & a week at the Montrose Offshore Firefighting Centre doing all of the above while learning how to put out fires on a rig (a similar situation to what is happening at present) in a emergancy.

My respect for these guys who do it on a daily basis remains undiminished & I hope that there are no losses of life in the course of their work.



I quite like the Helpdesk people in a benevolent (as opposed to malevolent) way as they do some valuable work in preventing us being inundated by every halfwit who can work a phone.

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th December 2005, 13:47

I lost respect for them when they decided to start striking because they were being stopped from working their second jobs by being asked to actually do something when theyn weren`t fighting fires.

The percentage of time spent `at the frontline` for a fireman is very low, and the majority of the time they are not put in excessive danger, as lives are more importnat than propoerty. Don`t get me wrong, i have respect for the image of the firefighter going into the burning building to save people trapped inside, but that is not typical of a firefighters day.

The average shift involves going to false alarms at commercial buildings etc., hardly dangerous work. When on night shifts the fireman has traditionally slept, and if no calls were received during the night then they got paid for doing nothing, and very often went to their second jobs as builders etc. the next day (my mate was a fireman / carpenter, and he along with most at his station did this).

The government tried to stop them doing this and they go on strike!! That really is a demonstration of how much they care isn`t it. Worth remembering next time they strike over `working arrangements` .

I would very much doubt that in the current situation they would be in extreme danger, and are more likely to be working around the fire itself, so to think about them before those who had been involved in the blasts, and injured by them seems a little bit wrong IMO.



The Bigman Cometh

Obviously there must`ve beeen staff at the depot, so unless they knew something was about to happen and they evacuated I don`t know how they survived it. :(

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They aren`t even attempting to `tackle the blaze`

Have you seen the images on the news? How are they going to tackle that? They to just let it burn up all the fuel. It doesn`t mean they are just sitting around with their thumbs up their arses though.

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Sorry, i get fed up with the fireman hero worship that goes on over here.

Err... but they *are* heroes. C***.

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Don`t get me wrong, i have respect for the image of the firefighter going into the burning building to save people trapped inside, but that is not typical of a firefighters day.

Yes, because buildings don`t burst into flames constantly all day. If you want to see firemen getting work done perhaps you should consider a career in arson.

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www.soundalikes.com/

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th December 2005, 15:57