BUNCEFIELD OIL DEPOT
It's in the news again today because - two months on - no-one knows quite what sparked the blaze. I remember it happening because I was in South London on the day. I was awake at 6am and felt something odd. I didn't think much of it at the time as it was so momentary. Later, though, when I got up and heard the news, I realised that it had felt like a sudden draft - like the 'whoosh' that accompanies ignition.
The thing that puzzles me, though, is that just a day later, the authorities said the fire hadn't been triggered by anyone on the premises, in the grounds of the depot. How on earth could anyone know that?! The fire was still raging at that time. And if anyone did spark it - with a cigarette lighter or similar - they'd have been reduced to ashes pretty quickly... maybe leaving a very charred and shriven pile of bones somewhere that wouldn't have been discovered until a good few days later, when the flames were fully extinguished and the smoke dispersed. It sounded like too hasty a pronouncement and I wondered (still do) how anyone could reach that conclusion so quickly.
It's in the news again today because - two months on - no-one knows quite what sparked the blaze. I remember it happening because I was in South London on the day. I was awake at 6am and felt something odd. I didn't think much of it at the time as it was so momentary. Later, though, when I got up and heard the news, I realised that it had felt like a sudden draft - like the 'whoosh' that accompanies ignition.
The thing that puzzles me, though, is that just a day later, the authorities said the fire hadn't been triggered by anyone on the premises, in the grounds of the depot. How on earth could anyone know that?! The fire was still raging at that time. And if anyone did spark it - with a cigarette lighter or similar - they'd have been reduced to ashes pretty quickly... maybe leaving a very charred and shriven pile of bones somewhere that wouldn't have been discovered until a good few days later, when the flames were fully extinguished and the smoke dispersed. It sounded like too hasty a pronouncement and I wondered (still do) how anyone could reach that conclusion so quickly.
