Buncefield Oil Depot Explosion (11 December 2005)

[Hubert_F]

Why exactly would you be wishing for an explosion at an OIL storage location?!

I thought it was a bit stupid the environmental people whinging, "Oh, don't put the fire out, we need to check that the chemicals in AFFF don't hurt the environment" - the environment will be much more hurt if it exploded more...

It was fear of contamination to groundwater as well as practical problems.

The explosions were indeed heard as afar as the Netherlands

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4518030.stm

"My wife and I live in Hook of Holland, on the south west coast of the Netherlands, approximately one mile from the shore.

"This morning, just after seven Dutch time, the roof of our house suddenly cracked. We were both awake and heard it. This alarming sound (there was no wind at all and everything was very quiet) was directly followed by two very heavy thunderlike sounds, obviously far from our home.

"After we watched Ceefax on the Dutch television we realised that we must have been witness of the shockwave and the sound of the blast of the explosions near London.

"Considering the fact that we live about a hundred miles from London we thought it might give some idea of the intensity of the explosions."

The inversion (where the temperature of the air becomes greater with increasing height) and allows sound to refract, therefore the sound can travel much further. You will notice this at some times when you can hear a nearby road but at other times you can not.