Buncefield Oil Fire

[Miss Understood]

I give anyone who may have been affected by today's fire my very best wishes and hope that you and yours are OK.

But, I was wondering, what would be the long term effects of the fire with respect to pollution around the site? And the smoke - any environmentalists out there?

[mazza]

Yes, there will be environmental implications.

Because the oil has been burning for so long now, it is effectively kicking out a load of soot into the atmosphere and this will end up being carried by the wind and deposited all over the place.

Apparently, cars are already getting coated in a film of yukky stuff. This soot will contain hydrocarbons and products of combustion such as benzene. Hydrocarbons are known to antagonise respiratory conditions eg asthma and benzene is a known carcinogen (cancer causing) . It's terrible :sad: .

Also, the soot will settle into rivers, reservoirs and water courses which will have effects on the wildlife plus cause problems for the water treatments plants (drinking water could be affected) .

It's really awful, the cloud of smoke can be detected by satellite and will eventually drift across Europe too :( .

I hope that the fire service can extinguish the flames soon, apparently they will use a special foam/water formula and have already taken the environmental implications of using the mixture into consideration before they go ahead cos they are concerned the foam will contaminate local water supplies.

It's a terrible, terrible disaster :( .

[wildheart]

It is very worrying. It was so eerie yesterday as the smoke drifted over London and eclipsed the sun.

Even when the raging fire is finally put out, the damage has already been done.

[Miss Understood]

I was at my home on the south coast yesterday when I wrote that. Today, I've travelled back up to North London to my workplace.

It was really quite ironic. Two Mondays ago, a fellow train traveller and I marvelled at the most fantastic sunrise you've ever seen when we were on the train. The colours were fantastic, totally indescribable and if you'd painted it or photographed it no-one would have believed that it was taken from Life. It kept me quite enthralled for at least 20 minutes.

Today, we were in the same carriage but didn't speak (as one doesn't!) but as we neared London he caught my eye and we both smiled in a knowing way about the total lack of sunrise today. Indeed, there was one great greyish black lid on the capital.

All the morning at work, there was just one great lump of cloud blanketing the whole place - even though it felt cold enough for a frost.

Tonight I'm staying in North London. The stars popped out briefly about 7pm but they've all now disappeared again - and it's difficult, because it's night time, to tell if it's general cloud or plume. But, given the forecast, it's probably plume.

I fear for the worst ecologically. Even when the fire is finally put out, the fallout will last for years, I'm sure

[Neighboured]

Dear me.

There will be an enquiry, of course, I wonder what exactly went wrong? :(

[Miss Understood]

Came home from London at lunchtime today (working from home this afternoon and tomorrow). Caught the train from Waterloo to the South Coast. Guess what? The plume followed me all the way down! Though it's not quite as thick here as it was in London.

Tonight, I think we were heading for a reasonable frost. But, those little tell tale pseudo clouds are lurking over my house as I type. Maybe that's the upside of it all - the 'smoke hat' will stop the frost and consequently stop the need to s********e the car windows etc in the morning.

Clouds, silver linings and all that!


:)