Monday
(0)Patrick Wilks writes in with an eyewitness account and interesting picture of the oil explosion
We are all fine as the fire is about four miles away. The initial explosion woke us up just after six, my wife thought it was an earthquake but I must admit it did not trouble me and I went back to sleep. Out the front of the house the smoke was very thick and it was like night almost but out the back it was bright sun shine quite a contrast.
A lot of the roads round Hemel Hempstead have been closed which is causing the most problem. One area that was hit bad was Hunters Oak, were we used to have a house in 1990. That location is only about half a mile from the depot.
I drove past this morning and the fires were still very big but not as much as yesterday. In the picture its hard to see but the flames were a good few hundred feet into the air. This was taken on the edge of the village. The kids are pleased as they have just heard that the schools are closed tomorrow.
(click for larger image)
That made me chuckle! To judge from reading the Evening Standard, the apocalypse is at hand for London as the "Poison Cloud Approaches!"
And Mr. Wilks' phlegmatic children are just happy to escape a day of incarceration at school.
That rather puts it all in perspective. Nice to see some of us Brits are still unflappable :-)
Posted by Old Jack Tar at December 12, 2005 10:11 PM
Holy crapola! Dude, that IS the mother of all smoke clouds. Not sure I'd much care to be down wind of that baby!
Posted by asus phreak at December 12, 2005 10:15 PM
If you want to hear something go boom, read the memo from the British Ambasador to Poland that was leaked to the media. Very undiplomatic, to say the least.
Posted by veryretired at December 12, 2005 11:03 PM
Yes, very retired, it was amazing. Do you think his pensions's safe?
Re the photo - what is it with British men now going out in their shirtsleeves in December? Don't tell me global warming is real .... I couldn't bear it.
Posted by Verity at December 12, 2005 11:41 PM
veryretired:
I just read that memo... undiplomatic, indeed. But then telling the truth is a liability in that line of work.
Posted by Richard Easbey at December 12, 2005 11:42 PM
Can we stay on-topic please. Blog on the subject to follow soon.
Posted by Admin at December 12, 2005 11:55 PM
From the other side of the pond, I was bemused by a news report this morning about the fire. The report made note that the fire had been burning for some 24 hours at that point and the decision had been made to use foam on the fire. According the news report the fire service had to wait until it was determined that the foam would not cause any pollution.
While I admit that this was a news media report and subject to all the stupidity attendant thereto I found it 'amusing' and disconcerting that there would be such concern about the foam polluting when the fire was pouring tons of combustion products and pollutants into the atmosphere every hour.
Posted by John Steele at December 13, 2005 12:04 AM
Wyatt's Torch? Anyone seen Ragnar Danneskjold lately?
Oh, sorry. Atlas on the brain. ;-)
Posted by Cynicus Prime at December 13, 2005 03:12 AM
Talking of off-topic, why is Samizdata concerned with the smoke in HH and not the flames in Sydney?
Posted by pommygranate at December 13, 2005 11:46 AM
The Times has a partliamentary sketch by Ann Treneman in today's issue about 2Jags Prescott's visit to Hemel Hempstead and his subsequent statement to the House about the fire. Apparently he has discovered a new sinister variant of Hydro-Carbons, informing the Commons that the plume of smoke consisted of Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and a new element known as Hydro-Cardigans. He then insisted that these were not life-threatening or toxic components, which leads one to wonder why schools for a 10 mile radius have been closed and people in the immediate vicinity evacuated to a local Odeon cinema (unfortunately showing Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire).
Posted by Julian Taylor at December 13, 2005 12:17 PM
pommy, see the latest post above by Michael Jennings, an Aussie.
Latest reports suggest that the firefighters are close to putting the blaze out.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at December 13, 2005 04:12 PM
The newspapers keep saying that all schools have been closed in a ten-mile radius, but that's not true. Interestingly, only STATE schools have been closed. For them, all the incentives are in favour of doing less work and following the precautionary principle. My children go to a private school five miles from the fire. It has remained open.
In fact, at any distance more than about a mile from the fire there is no dfference between being a mile away or fifty miles away. It is safe in both cases. There are clouds of sooty particles at around 9000 feet - that's all.
Posted by Graham Asher at December 13, 2005 06:24 PM
Nice piccie Patrick. It's good to see the emergency services were able to get it under control in a relatively short amount of time.Bravo!! Thankfully there was no one killed and very few injuries considering the size of the blast and extent of the fire.The kids enjoyed their day off too!!
Posted by Sara Barber at December 14, 2005 12:25 AM
