NEWS: Explosion Heard Near Fuel Depot in Hemel Hempstead, England

The explosion woke my friends parents up!




I didn't hear anything myself but aparently it was heard in Holland too!

i live in stalbans and it looks like heavy fog since you can only see a few feet.
must say i never felt it even so everyone in my family did (oh well guess i am a heavy sleeper lol )

What was the weather like there this morning ?
I'm going to guess it was cold, very still, and quite damp and maybe beginning to get a bit foggy.

Could this be the kind of conditions to get vapour 'pooling' in, rather than being dispersed on the wind, or evaporating quickly in warmer air ?

It was just below freezing here this morning with still air and a hard frost.

Now it's dark and the daytime noise has died away I can still hear the roar of the fire and see the flames above the buildings from my flat. There is still a sort of surreal feel to the day, almost like I have to keep telling myself this is really happening.

[edit on 11-12-2005 by Britguy]

We live in Southwest London (about 35 miles away). The explosion woke us with a start, that's how loud it was. It sounded like it was right outside. I thought maybe it was a car crash.

Official Clairvoyance

Originally posted by Nerdling
That's my point eddie, if nobody can get in and investigate then how can you conclusively rule out terrorism?

Simple enough: just declare that it wasn't, and that makes it so.

I am also skeptical of these unfounded declarations.

At some point official credibility is lost when claims like these become the norm, even if this truly wasn't an act of terrorism.

It's okay to say "we don't know". People can understand that.

But when officials claim that they do know when they can't possibly know, all that results is their discreditation.

I don't see how that is desirable.

Well its almost midnight here now and the foam has arrived,

The fire crew and police are getting ready to tacke this fire, i have heard that they may start with in this hour


Fingers crossed,

Sublime Providence

On another grim note, am I to understand that no one is reported to have been killed in this incident?

In light of the extraordinary magnitude and scale of the blast, it is difficult to believe that no one has died as a result.

I must say that my confidence in the accuracy of these early reports is not particularly strong.

am I to understand that no one is reported to have been killed in this incident?

All have been accounted for, 2 remain in hospital

It amazing that no body was killed, funny thing is they think this was due to most people being in bed and coverd with a duvet, so any glass that popped out of windows and such hit the duvets rather than the people,

The fact that they were so quick to call it an accident indicates to me that it was probably terrorism. Terrorists have been after London for a while now with one terrorist attack and another failed terrorist attack. Now the fuel depot outside of town blows sky high. At this point I'd think it was terrorism unless they can prove otherwise.

The fire is still burning as strong as it was yesterday morning. The plan to tackle the blaze at midnight was scrapped, due to "environmental concerns" about the use of foam, and there has still been no effort to put this thing out.

I'm not sure if this means anything or not, but a Police Officer just announced at a press conference on BBC News that they have arrested 1 person "who could not account for his presence at the scene," but I didn't hear when or where he was arrested.

Originally posted by Indy
The fact that they were so quick to call it an accident indicates to me that it was probably terrorism. Terrorists have been after London for a while now with one terrorist attack and another failed terrorist attack. Now the fuel depot outside of town blows sky high. At this point I'd think it was terrorism unless they can prove otherwise.

Thats some of the weirdest and most twisted logic i've ever heard ?! It sounds like the witch trials of the dark ages, just because you seem to want it to be a terrorist attack, you want authorities to prove that it wasnt ?!!?!

When the bombs went off in London, within an hour or so it was announced that it was possibly a terrorist attack, and confirmed within the day. Why would this be any different ? Accidents happen in these kinds of facilities all the time, its just that this one has been of catastrophic magnitude.

Do you blame every accident on terrorists ? Has the archetypal image of the terrorist become the new 'bogeyman' of the 21st century ? Next time you get a flat tyre, I reckon it might well just a be terrorist action - unless of course you can prove otherwise ?!

Originally posted by MERC
I'm not sure if this means anything or not, but a Police Officer just announced at a press conference on BBC News that they have arrested 1 person "who could not account for his presence at the scene," but I didn't hear when or where he was arrested.

Any info to back this up? Haven't seen it on the news myself...Not that I don't belive you

An interpretation and elucidation of this explosion see:
Forum: Scientific Topics
---------Aircraft Projects
Thread: Fuel Tank Explosions.

wow my radio just mentioned that the smoke from the blast is now reaching the coast of Normandy in France...

UPDATE>

well its 6pm here in the UK and the effot to put the fire out has had to be halted,

Theres a tank there which may ...due to the heat explode, there trying to keep it cool as they do not know what it contains,

so al fire fighters have been withdrawn,

Sad news really as the crews have been doing great today, and really had it under control,


but all in all 12 of the 20 tanks are out,


[edit on 12-12-2005 by asala]

I think the person arrested was in a no-go zone in an area where families had been evacuated. Probably some opportunist out for easy pickings
( although they didn't say if he was brown skinned or "of Middle Eastern Appearance" ).

The tank fires that were put out were most likely those which had almost burnt out anyway. The ones still raging are probably the oil storage tanks which would be more difficult to tackle. Shame that they had to pull back but saving what remains is not worth a single life.

heres a link on the fire halt,

Firefighters pulled back