Knowledge Centre

Buncefield

In the early hours of Sunday 11th December 2005, a number of explosions occurred at Buncefield Oil Storage Depot, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. At least one of the initial explosions was of massive proportions and there was a large fire, which engulfed a high proportion of the site.

Incident summary

1. the explosion was heard on continental Europe
2. required 180 fire fighters to fight the blaze for four days
3. injured 45 people and displaced 16,500 workers
4. blew windows out 3km away
5. resulted in 2,000 residents being placed in temporary accommodation by the Council

Recovery Issues

1. The Buncefield oil storage depot explosion
2. destroyed 20 business premises,
3. affecting 500 employees,
4. made a further 60 premises unusable for many months,
5. and affected 3,500 personnel.
6. Over 90 businesses were severely affected directly by total or partial destruction of property or indirectly through restricted access to premises and business assets.
7. Total businesses losses have been assessed to be in the order of £100m, with some reporting approximately 200 job losses.
8. Numerous businesses had to relocate staff to other sites.