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Last blazes in UK inferno put outOfficials say they still believe cause was accidental
LONDON, England -- Firefighters have extinguished the last three tank fires at an oil depot inferno that has spewed a huge plume of black smoke across southern England and into France. Some small concrete containers were still ablaze at the depot in Hemel Hempstead, 40 kilometers north of London, but the 20 tanks were now extinguished, said Roy Wilsher, chief fire officer in the county of Hertfordshire. But Wilsher admitted crews had not been trained to tackle such a large blaze. "All previous experience had been on one tank," he said. Wilsher said fire crews had poured 15 million liters (4 million U.S. gallons) of water, mixed with a quarter of a million liters (66,000 gallons) of foam concentrate, on the fires. Authorities say they believe the explosion at the Buncefield depot 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of London was an accident but they will examine other possible causes. Clare Lee, who led a team from the UK's Meteorological Office that flew through the smoke cloud Monday to gather data on its composition, said it was all soot -- "nothing more nasty than you'd get from a regular bonfire." "It means it's not toxic to the world," Lee said in an article published in The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday. Dr. Jane Halpin, director of public health at the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Strategic Health Authority, told reporters on Tuesday that air samples taken a day earlier "were very reassuring." Halpin said tests for asbestos in the smoke were "clear and negative." The terminal stored 16 million liters (4.2 million U.S. gallons) of fuel, and the fire has caused jitters on the global oil market and raised questions about safety at Britain's oil facilities. "There is nothing to suggest that there is any malicious involvement in this," Hertfordshire assistant chief constable Simon Parr told the briefing, repeating the position taken by police from the outset. Parr said police were working to locate pieces of the shattered tanks and were confident that they would be able to reconstruct the first tank to explode. Police said the ferocity of the blaze would make it extremely hard for forensic experts to find out the cause, but saw no indication of foul play. Chief Constable Frank Whiteley said eyewitness accounts and closed-circuit television footage would be key to determining what sparked the chain reaction. The series of explosions early Sunday morning came four days after an al-Qaeda videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil, but officials drew no link. The fire erupted before dawn Sunday with a series of explosions that blew the doors off houses in the surrounding area and sent flames leaping into the sky. Most of the 43 people injured were treated for cuts and bruises from the flying glass of broken windows. Most of the people evacuated from their homes Sunday were still waiting to return. Jane Hogg, mayor of Dacorum Borough Council, said authorities were trying to get people back in their homes as soon as possible, but first they needed to be sure the buildings were structurally sound. Representatives of oil companies, pipeline operators and the airline industry met Monday to discuss ways of keeping fuel supplies flowing. French oil firm Total S.A. said it had implemented contingency plans to reroute supplies that normally run through the plant. The explosions at the fifth largest fuel distribution depot in the country sparked some panic buying of petrol among motorists despite reassurances from the oil industry that it had plans to deal with such an emergency. Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street office urged drivers not to rush to the pumps but acknowledged there could be "short-term local difficulties." Weather forecasters said the heavy pall of smoke hanging over the blast would begin to disperse soon. Smoke heads to SpainThe smoke cloud has drifted over Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France and was headed toward Spain, France's national weather service said Monday. Agriculture experts were assessing any possible effects the fall-out might have on fruit and vegetables and if it entered the digestive systems of farm animals. The Buncefield depot is a major distribution terminal operated by Total and part-owned by Texaco, storing oil and petrol as well as kerosene, which supplies airports across the region, including Heathrow and Luton airports. It is also used by BP, Shell and British Pipeline. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told Parliament there would be a full investigation once the fire was extinguished. "Does this latest incident prove that proper safety procedures were still not in place?" Conservative Party lawmaker Caroline Spelman demanded of him. Gemma Shepherdson, a spokeswoman for Total UK, the operators, said security was tight at the depot. She said anyone entering the site had to go through a security gate and show a photo pass, which Total issues after conducting background checks. She said the depot was ringed by closed-circuit TV cameras. Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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