Name: Ron South
Address: Risedale rd Hemel Hempstead Herts
Views:If this accident had happend during the working week does Ms Hewitt still beleive Hemel can do without a hospital just think of the problems of getting to Hatfield quickly when the motorway was closed also getting to Watford would be
very slow with all the traffic during the day therefore I urge the authorities to reconsider their plans to close our hospital.



Name: Donna Fleming
Address: Wood Lane End
Hemel Hempstead
Herts
Views: I didn't hear a thing until the phone ringing, husband answered it and then I went into living room, he passed the phone to me and said it was my mum,
she thought a plane had crashed!!! My husband went out onto landing of flats(wont give exact words) but he said it was buncefield, at that moment I just went into thinking about a terrorist attack. Never been so scared in all my
life.

Name: Julia
Address: Milton Dene
Shortly after 6am Sunday, like a lot of other people were experiencing,
a rumble went straight through my house, everything shook hard. I got up and
could see flames, first of all I thought a house had exploded on the Parr
crescent area, I called the emergency services, they asked me if I was looking
in the same direction as the oil depot, I said yes. My main concern was to get
the kids and dogs out of the house and away. My house has sustained some damage.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the emergency services, They did a
fantastic job, without them the situation would have been a lot worse. They
deserve a medal for what they have done.

Also I would like to take the opportunity to say that we NEED our local
hospital, I cant believe that they are considering closing Hemel Hempstead
General Hospital. Especially with Sundays disaster, the injured people, well
they could have been a lot worse if they had no Hospital in the area!!

When the oil depot is re-built, I urge ( like many other's ) for the depot to be
built away from buildings, be it residential or business.

We would like to put our thoughts out to those seriously effected by the
explosion. Its a miracle that there was no fatalities!!


Name: Mr and Mrs Buchanan
Address: Hales Park, Wood Lane End Hemel
Views: We awoke at just gone 6am from the blast - all I can describe the sound was like a raging train that belted past with a loud roaring sound. Our bedroom shook - and lit with bright orange - our blinds were shaking terribly. My husband just said to me stay down and dont look outside, he believed it was a plane at first, and didnt want me to see any devastation. I thought it was the house next to us or Dixons that had gone up. He ran outside with the rest of our neighbours and then ran inside and put the sky news on, the first news was that it was in St. Albans - that we knew was wrong. We heard people screaming and babies crying with fright. Then the police came round with their sirens on and evacuated us all. We just grabbed our animals and got out of there fast, as there were a couple of other blasts that happened soon after. We are back now safe in our home - our patio has gone out but we are very lucky! we wont be sleeping normally for a while! But are incredibly thankful for the help and assistance of the police and fire brigade who got the fire out safely.

Name: Tom Tobin
Address: 34, Leeside Crescent, Golders Green, London
Views: I woke up at about 8am and went to work as normal. I didn't have the radio on that morning so I didn't know about the expolsion. I went to work as normal. My day was ok. Anyway, I came home and it was all over the telly! Who'd have thought it? It was like, wow! I was gobsmacked. My house wasn't damaged thankfully.


Name: pauline
Address: tollpit end hemel hempstead
Views: Like many others in Hemel have been personally affected by what happened on sunday morning, and will never forget it as long as i live. I have lived in Hemel all of my life and it may be worth remembering though that when Hemel New Town was built along with the Oil Depot, the Industrial area was not as near to the depot as now, over the years it has (along with housing) edged nearer and nearer towards it. Did they not so long ago propose to build a housing estate on the Lucas site? and doesn't the new housing proposals include land near to the site?


Name: Chris Kirkpatrick
Views: i live in pitstone and i was awake when the explosion apparently happened sitting in my room lisitening 2 music quietly cause every1 was asleep!i did not hear or feel a thing! so how did ppl in france n holland hear it?

Name: Derek Copeland
Address: Woodland Road, Rickmansworth, Herts.
The explosion at the Buncefield Oil Terminal occured at 06:05 am on Sunday morning. I know because I was woken up by it, even though I live some twelve miles away! Luckily there were very few people about at this time of day in the immediate vicinity, outside the depot itself, so casulties were mercifully light. However looking at the amount of damage done to most of the buildings on the industrial estate, I believe that there would have been absolute carnage, had the same explosion occured during normal working hours. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people could have been killed or seriously injured. I have been working in an office on this industrial estate since 2000, since when several new developments have been built very close to the Oil Terminal. I have to ask if this was altogether wise planning, or even that anyone should have to work or live so close to this potential time bomb? I also have to question of the wisdom of proposals to reduce the number of Fire Station in Hertfordshire. The extra response time could make all the difference between getting out of a badly damaged and burning building alive, or not!

Name: sam french
Address: pinetree gardens hemel hempstead
Views: the explosion woke me up at just gone six when it went off i thought it was thunder then i realised it was more than that i came downstairs and turned on the news and realised what had happened you dont realise how lucky you are till you nearly lose it

Name: ALLAN BOWIE
St Agnells lane
Views: I was just about waking up when I thought I heard something in the back garden.Then the whole house seemed to shake, starting from the back going through to the front.Then there was the biggest bang Ive ever heard.I shot up to look out of the window but could see nothing.My first thoughts were that it was a direct lightning strike on the house as the thunder seemed to go on for about another 10 seconds or so. I then went through to the back bedroom and lookedout of the window. where the sky was all lit up. I called my wife and said I think a planes just come down, Iremember saying to her 'if it is a plane so close we are lucky to be alive'. Thank god I was wrong and the casualty count was so low . BUT THIS COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MUCH WORSE AS WE ALL KNOW IF IT HAPPENED ON A NORMAL WORKING DAY. WITH HEMEL HOSPITAL EARMARKED FOR CLOSURE AND THE CLOSEST THEN BEING WATFORD. THE GOVERNMENT NEED TO RETHINK THIS AND PUT MORE MONEY INTO OUR HEALTH SERVICE AND STOP PAYING OUT BILLIONS OF POUNDS ON THINGS WHICH DIDNT CONCERN THIS COUNTRY.

Name: Andrew O'Brien
Address: Bovingdon
Views: Just a point that may well be worth publicising, with regard to recent events how can the proposed closure of local fire stations be justified, surely we have to be able to cope with any situation and I firmly believe that without the likes of the firefighters at Bovingdon and other stations we may well have had other disasters, someone has to cover all the other incidents as well as Buncefield without relying on assistance from other counties fire services.

Name: D. Brown.
Address: Hednesford .Staffs
Views: Dear Sir The goverment and local planning officer's must learn by this near disaster. The constuction of oil terminals should be kept well away from any other buildings,and screened with large earth banks to contain or deflect any blasts that may happen. Had this accident occurred on a weekday there would have been many lives lost. Well done to the local emergency services



From: Sue Moore
Codicote Row,
Woodhall Farm,
Views: I think it would be really great if the Herald Express could suggest a collection to thank the Fire Service, Police, Ambulance and other emergency & community services who have provided such outstanding service since the Buncefield explosions on Sunday morning. Perhaps you could publish a form in your paper via which local people could send in a donation, and perhaps a brief message of gratitude. We can only imagine the bravery, hard work and expertise that the emergency services have brought to this situtation. It would be wonderful if the residents of Hemal could send our heartfelt thanks to them in some way.

Name: Moira Lea
Address: Tring
Views: Dear Sirs I think that you should have a page dedicated to praise of our fire services,police and volunteers who took part in this weekends appalling disaster. It is nothing short of a miracle that the fire was extinguished so quickly and that there were no further casualties. We should praise them and not criticise. Of course our emergency services and hospital services SHOULD NOT be cut back, this weekend has highlighted that more than ever. All the services deserve our highest praise and thanks. Moira Lea


From: Dil Williams The Apple Orchard, Hemel,: "Like everybody in Hemel I was awakened by the huge explosion. About ten minutes later my phone rang and it was a call from my brother-in-law. He operates an airport taxi service out of Milton Keynes and he was returning from Heathrow. He had driven past Buncefield at 6 o'clock heading north on the M1. About a mile up the road he saw and enormous flash in his rear-view mirror, the car (a solid Mercedez) was rocked violently and he felt a searing flash of heat on his neck. A few miles further on he stopped and rang me to ask if there had been an accident at Buncefield. I went to look out of my front bedroom windows and I could see the flames rising above the houses opposite. I told he was right in his assumption. He must be the luckiest man alive. "

From: Carolyn :" I am so sorry to hear about the explosion in Hemel. I wish the best for everyone. "


From: Victor Cox, The Park - Redbourn: "The people of Hemel Hempstead, supported by Dacorum Disrict Council, must never allow the Buncefield oil depot to be rebuilt. No such terminal anywhere in the country should be allowed to operate within at least mile of other buildings, whether domestic or commercial. |"

From: ian henley: "Im wondering if the freak storm bolt last week is related to the oil depot explosion."

CLICK HERE and tell us what you saw or heard of the explosion or you comments


From: Mike : Cornerhall, Hemel Hempstead. "Re: Buncefield Oil Depot fire. I have always been a little pessimistic about people that say they "shot out of bed".
I now though know that it is physically possible to go from a very relaxed lying down position to an upright, almost regimental, standing position in one swift movement, with absolutely no use of the arms or body in anyway what so ever! I, like so many others, awoke to the loudest ever rumbling and then the hugest ever bang I have ever heard – Even louder than the Fireworks in Veralum Park each year!
I first thought it was an amazingly loud clap of thunder, so pulled open my curtains and looked out of my bedroom window to see no clouds?
I then ran into the back bedroom, again to find no clouds?? To be honest by this time I was just putting off the inevitable slow, sideways, walk down the stairs in my house to confront what I had then began to think must have been a burglar wrecking my living room.
My eyes and senses then began to focus. I looked out my daughters bedroom window down toward the tower (formerly known as "The Kodak Building"), nothing? I then looked up toward Adeyfield, and then I could see, I could see flames lapping over the top of houses on the Jarmans estate!
"That was no thunder, that was an explosion!" I exclaimed loudly to my partner, who was still quite calmly laying in bed yawning. I called her into the bedroom and showed her what I could see. Before she could turn, with a look of complete stunned amazement on her face, I was already stumbling back into the bedroom trying to get into my jeans whilst also trying to put my t-shirt and jumper on whilst my brain was also working out if it was possible for me to reach my trainers. "That was no thunder!" I said again. "I'm going to see what it is".
As I closed the front door behind me I realised that we were not the only one's who had heard this. There must have been at least 20 more people out in my street, some in their dressing gowns or even just a duvet strategically wrapped around them. No one spoke immediately we all just started walking toward the flames, a bit like flies to an electric fly trap.
The crowd then started to speculate as to what had exploded, was it Jarmans house? or any house? Was it a gas explosion? Was it an accident on the dual carriageway? As we got closer to the bridge that no one uses, you know, the one across the dual carriageway by Tesco's, we could see it was coming from the direction of Adeyfield. Was it the School? Was it the petrol station? Was it one of the shops in the square? I then started to walk up onto the bridge, and just for everyone's re-assurance that bridge does work and I know this because I was one of about six people, out of what was now at least fifty people outside, who tried it and yes we all made it safely to the other side, and we were probably only about 5 seconds behind the 40+ lemmings who decided to cross over four lanes of road and a central barrier to get to the other side!
As we walked into Adeyfield, flames getting ever bigger and more and more impressive, I overheard a couple of people talking about the Buncefield Oil Depot. I had forgotten all about the Depot. I've lived here in Hemel all my life and it never crossed my mind it might be the Oil Depot.
You forget it's there, don't you!? Anyway the reason I started writing this email was to add to what I imagine will now be an onslaught of letters and emails to you, Mike Penning MP and central government voicing pure astonishment that the A&E department in Hemel has even ever been considered for closure?!
The town has developed way beyond what was first perceived in the late Fifties and early sixties. We are now hosts to huge corporations' head quarters and some of the countries biggest distributors. We are arguably one of the best placed towns in the country, from a logistical sense, for this type of industry. Does anyone really now believe that companies thinking of settling here won't consider the lack of an A&E department?
I for one would need to consider very carefully who got my vote in future if I ever felt mine or my loved ones lives were being put at risk just to improve the profitability of a local health authority!! I feel that as residents of Hemel we are very lucky that the Fire and Police services haven't been depleted even lower than they already have but at the same time very concerned of the speculation that they will be.
Well done to them all! We, I am sure I speak for all residents of Hemel Hempstead, are extremely grateful for their determined work over the past few days and for every other day they come to work and help to ensure we can live our day to day lives as normally as possible. I sincerely hope that this, what could have been an absolute devastation, has made the senior health authority officials, Central Government officials and Local Council officials who are driving the closures and cut backs sit up and really think about what they are doing and perhaps they will now listen to the people and not their budgets.

From: Barrie Victor Newton, Horsecroft Road Boxmoor Hemel Hempstead, "Buncefield The sleeping behemoth stirs slightly and chaos is given release. A rumbling bellow of doom shatters a Sabbath morning's peace Liquid flame erupts, capers and dances revealing its deadly face. In tranquil skies the darkly rising pillar bows to the winds embrace. Clear blue winter skies bisected by a meandering river of darkness. Billowing hellfire spawned clouds of demonic particles seeking ingress. Disappearing into the distance, finding the horizon, the dark river flows. A pale wan ghost of the sun, starkly outlined in silver is all that shows. The charcoal ribbon continues languidly following its pre-ordained path. Eternal Venus shines like a celestial beacon guarding home and hearth. Memories of children's discarded toys as cars lie mangled, melted and torn. Blackened broken branches point upward accusingly, their leaves all shorn. Reminders of war-torn lands, buildings stand abandoned, empty and gutted. A devastated landscape scarred, mutilated by liquid fire lies silent, muted.

From: gillian mair, berkhamstead :": i live in berko and was woken at 6am last sunday morning by the blast and immediatly i thought the buncefield site had gone up bacause for well over a month i have seen foam around the perimeter fence and around the roundabout and the smell of petrol was present even when i picked my partener up on friday night and has been for several weeks. i felt that all would be ok because one would expect the level of maintainance to be high. this however i have a very big doubt about in view of what has occured and also in light of what was said in the house of commons yesterday. cant think why it was built there in the first place and if it was thought about what carnage would be caused when the buildings around it were erected if a major incident had occured which it now has the fire service have done a fantastic job as have the police and other unmentioned .we are so lucky nobody was killed

From: Keith Carrington Hemel Hempstead : "Just a line about the traumatic events of Sunday morning. I was a tanker driver for some years at Buncefield. and two of my sons are tanker drivers there now. We live within 1 mile of the blast and received some minimal blast damage. Imagine the traumatic feelings we were going through when we looked out of our window to see the fireball rising at least 500 feet inthose first few moments. Then to realise that our sons were at work and would have been loading at the time. My wife is still in shock at the event and the concerns over wwether the boys were at work or not. As it turned out we rang round the family and found that Martin and Paul were both off shift that day. What relief, now however comes the realisation of how close we have all come to loss of life and the many families who have suffered trauma and damage. Lets find out how this could have happened, why have property developers been allowed to build more and more factories so close to the Buncefield, almost surro! unding it with these buildings and of course people who by the grace of God were not in the area at the time. The terminal has not always had a good reputation for safety, eight years ago a major loss of fuel was allowed to go undetected and flowed into the lanes but did not ignight. other times there have been serious flaws in the safety and rules about what to do in the event of a fire. Could this have been due to a breach in operating procedures, a terrorist attack of a magnitude not before seen in the UK !! I submit, we people of Hemnel Hempstead must not allow this terminal to be reopened ever. Keith Carrington

From: name and address supplied:" firstly i would like to congratulate the fire service on what was a fantastic job they had done on preventing what could have been a catastrophic outcome on the explosion at the buncefield oil depot, but this incident proves how much we need our local hospital, are the powers that be going to see this now and not only keep our local hospital "

From: James, address supplied: "I am writing to you about my concern for the state of health of the students at Berkhamsted collegiate school. It seems that all schools within a 10 mile radius of Hemel Hempsted have been closed following requests from the government. I am unfortunate enough to belong to the only school that appears to be open.. My concern is for myself and for my fellow students. Are we being put at risk for the sake of 2 days worth of education, before the term ends?

From: Chris Armstrong, Crofts Path, Leverstock Green,"The Oil Depot Fire. I was stayin at my girlfriends house when it happened, she also lives in leverstock green, down ritcroft deive, so we were quite close. i was woken by an almitghty bang, which shock the hole house, and furniture in our room, i didnt know what it was at first, then the first thing i could thing off was thunder, but relised it was to loud and cold for thunder, then the fort of a car bomb, or even a aeroplane. my girlfriend was in tears, as it frightened the life out of her, so she asked me to check outside the window, so i did and i couldnt see anything, which puzzled me further, but her step dad was looking out the back window, and saw flames coming from the insutrial area. we put are clothes straight on and started walking down the dual carriage way. i was amazed at how many people were out for quarter past 6 on a sunday!!
it looked like football day, and everyone walking towards the stadium!! My Girlfreinds step dad, rob, and myself walked across the dual carriage road onto the Leverstock Green Road (were the Crabtree Pub is) and went down an ally which leads onto the industrial area, but was astonished to find the police had already blocked of ANY entrance to the industrial area, as we stood infront of the police man, i looked over his shoulder to see the devestating flames roaring over the industrial estate over a 100 ft in the air.
We made are way back to the dual carriage way and down it to the roundabout when you can go left to the industrial estate, straight on to the M1, or right into Leverstock Green. we made our way over towards the iron bridge, and jus a bit past that where we were meet by about 7 oil depot workers walking torwards us. we were speaking to them for a while as they told us how they were thrown around by the massive explosion, 3 or 4 of them came back to my girlfriends house to phone there family and friends to tell of there near death experience. it was so unreal when i turned the tele on to see hemel hempstead, a very small town on braeking news on BBC and sky news, it did feel like a dream. This will certainly put hemel on the map!

From: Lizzie,15, Leverstock Green :" Believe it or not I managed to sleep through the first blast, despite being within the evacuated area. My mum came into my room after the first blast and I was asleep. It was only when she called up to my dad 20 mins later that it was on sky news I woke up and came downstairs, finally realising what had happened. I got changed ready to go should we have to.
I went outside and took some pictures, as you looked up our road all you could see was the thick cloud that had put us in darkness. News crews were walking up our road, taking pictures of houses with windows smashed. We had it easy, doors blown open, shaking house and a couple of cracks in the ceiling. The police came down our road slowly in a van with their blue lights on. There were two police officers knocking door to door telling people that they were evacuating the area precautionarily and that our allocated refuge centre was Leisure World. My mum, dad and me all quickly put lots of clothes in bags, grabbed food we had in the house and got the dog and two cats in one room. We had all their food to take too. We had to try and do all of this inbetween lots of phone calls from concerned friends and family, including one friend who offered us to go to her house for the mean time. We figured it would be the most sensible thing considering we had 3 animals to take with us, oh, and our neighbour. We weren't going to leave her on her own! We got to where we were staying and stayed there for the day before calling Hemel police to see if we could go back to our home. They said no. We woke up the next morning and saw on the news they were letting in some of the evacuated families so we ended up coming back home at about 1 O'clock on Monday. Then found out school was also closed today(Tuesday). We are returning to normality although the thick black cloud is still dominating the skyline.

From: Susan Bailey, Barnes Rise Kings Langley : "Despite the devastation, disruption and possible adverse health consequences we can all be grateful for at least one thing; that Buncefield was not a Chernobyl. What happened there was also a fluke accident of human error. Three million children have required treatment from the affects the radiation cloud. But this is not the final figure, According to the UN, "Not until 2016 at the earliest will we know the full number of those likely to develop erious medical conditions..." Do we want the proposed new batch of nuclear power stations in Britain? The windmill in Kings Langley is beginning to look very attractive. "



From: Steve Wright, Greenacres "The sound of a ripping wind and then three or four very large thunderclap type sounds the likes of a volume I have never heard before . . . the house shook and was reverberating for about 10 seconds at least . . . at first I thought it was a plane crash but then looked out of the front of the house to see the fireball rising up 200-300 feet. 11th December 2005 we will all remember where we were. My thoughts are with the injured and people who have suffered damage to their houses we were so near but so far . . . "

From: Simon Roake, Evergreen Walk Hemel, Hempstead Herts "Both my wife, my daughter and I were woken by the explosion on Sunday morning. We were all looking out of our bedroom window and could see flames in the air. At first we thought there was a fire at the Mountbatten Lodge old peoples home which is not far from our house.
We could see people walking up the street and then we heard them talking.The first thoughts was that an aeroplane had crashed, then we heard someone say that the oil depot was on fire. We immediately thought that a plane had crashed into the oil depot. I came downstairs and turned on the television and started watching Sky news where the reports confirmed that the oil depot had exploded.
We continued to watch the news and I have taken some photos of the plumes of smoke from outside my house. It is amazing the different colours of the smoke we saw throughout the day, I don't know if this was down to the different substances burning or the weather conditions. I must say that I think the emergency and voluntary services in Hemel Hempstead and surrounding areas have done a wonderful job of dealing with this situation and hope that the fire will be contained as quickly as possible so that the whole community can get over this and hopefully have a good christmas.



From: Rev'd Simon Cutmore (Vicar of Leverstock Green), The Rectory, Leverstock Green: "I was in my study preparing for the 8am service when teh house shook
and then I heard the loudest explosion I have ever heard in my life - I was sure
that it was a plane from Luton. Dashed upstairs - my wife and one of our sons
were awake. We could see the flames from our bedtoom window.

"I dressed quickly, plus clerical shirt and went down as close to the site as I
could. The police were unable to say what had happened by that stage. Our
service on Sunday moring were subdued and quiet. I spent the rest of Sunday in
the village community ensuring that shops, shopkeepers, pubs, landlords and
residents were ok and listening to the their stories. I went to bed around
11pm.

"Today (Monday) I have done much the same, out in the community most of the day -
clearing glass and listening to people's stories and ensuring that the
vulnerable that I know personally were OK. People seem mostly Ok, a bit
frightened by it all but resolute.

"I think we cannot fault what the emergency services have done and they deerve
our heartfelt thanks and admiration.

"They say that the age of miracles is over - but thank God (literally) this this
didn't happen 24 hours later..."

From: Donna b_Address: "I was awoken at 6am on Sunday to the sound of what I thought was a bomb going off! my whole house shook and my bed lifted ! my bedroom was completly lit up and looking out my window saw a horrific 20 foot plus fireball in the sky my first thought was that we were under attack I was absolutly petrified and the sound will never leave my memory. I think we came as close as we ever will of experiencing the sound of being bombed ! i was fortunate enough to have sustained no damage but feel that after hearing reports of something happening at the depot last week this was a disaster just waiting to happen ! I now worry of the effects the smoke will have on my children and cant sleep at night with fear of yet another explosion. Just hope this is all over soon !


From: Adrian Twiggs, Sawyers Way, Adeyfield, "I was sitting at my desk checking my email in the back room, when the patio doors shook followed by an enormous explosion. I thought at first a plane had crashed in the fields behid Queens Square. Then noticed it was in the distance. The whole street was out talking about it. "



From: Mrs Harris "I live near Farnham in Surrey and i heard a dull thud at about 6.00am which rattled the windows. As we live near the army ranges i assumed they were doing something on their regular manoevres. later that day when we went for a walk there was a huge swathe of black cloud on the horizon which eventually drifted over towards our village. Then i saw the news and realised what had happened and guessed the cloud was smoke from the depot. "

From: chris: "it was at around 6.04am on the 11/12/05, i was suddenley awoken by a shocking explosion. my house therefore shook, i wondered what it was, and ventured outside. i could see smoke in the distance and and orange glow. my inisial impressions were a plane has gone down in the local area, but when i found out it was the bunsfield oil area, i was deepley shocked. at around 7am i ventured out to the scene and was amazed at what i saw,huge flames bolting up 100ft in the air. this is one experiance il never forget.2



From: Vicki, Gadebridge "i was literally just leaving my house to take a couple of friends home just after 6am and we heard a loud rumbling noise and my house shook and my toilet window flew open. Didnt have a clue what it was but continued to take my friends home who live in adeyfield. as soon as we got into adeyfield i could see the orange glow in the sky and people coming out of their houses. my friends and i drove all the way down to the roundabout which goes off onto maylands/cherry trees as the police hadn't cordoned it off yet. We stood on the roundabout watching it with about 50 other people. While we were there 2 smaller explosions were seen and heard and then police started to move people further away and completely shut off the whole of the industrial site. luckily nothing was smashed at our house as we live too far away to get the full impact of it all. "

From: Michele Clarke, Alison Court Wood End Close, Wood Lane End Hemel Hempstead: "I woke up to a huge explosion,just after 6pm it blew my bay windows out, the entire room was lit in an orange glow. I live just 5 mins away from Buncfield, and could clearly see the fire. Two more explosions followed. The house next to me was badly damaged, yet some properties remained intact. I had to leave my cat behind, and can't wait to see him again, as we were evacuated immediatley. My initial reaction, was that a plane had perhaps crashed, as the explosion was so intense, along with the heat, or a terrorist attack. I could not beleive how close people with children, were walking up to the depot to take a closer look!!!? I got away as quickley as possible, and am amazed that no one has been killed. Thankfully, it happened at least on a quiet Sunday morning, and not during office hours, the devestation would have been dreadfull. "

From: Patrizia Shirley, Sweetbriar Way Heath Hayes, Staffs, "I am shocked by the extent of the accident and worried for those who are and will be affected by this terrible disaster. I feel helpless at the sight of the raging fire, but maybe I can do something to help people. If there is a family with young children suffering from respiratory problems who would like to move out of the area for a few days, we would gladly offer them our guest room. If there is an organization that is taking care of relocating the most exposed ones locally, please pass my details to them. "

From: Tom Stevens : Apsley : "Me, my girlfriend and my 3 housemates were woken up at about 6am, everyone was shouting "what the hell was that?", it sounded like a bomb had gone off at the front of the house. I looked out the window but couldn't see anything so went outside and saw a mass of smoke. It was all over the tv when i turned it on so realised straight away and closed all the windows in the house. My mum lives in Leverstock Green and her porch door was blown off the hinges, i'm just glad it didn't happen at 9am on monday.... this could have been a lot worse. "

From: Alan Winter,Luton "I was woken by the explosion. My first thought was that it was something to do with an aeroplane, perhaps the sound barrier being broken, but then you don't get that over land. I put it down to a neighbour parhaps slamming a front door behind them. Later my ex called me from Hemel and told me to put the tv on. A relative had rung her from Surrey to ask if she was ok at 7am as he had been woken by the sound. Her sister rang her from Warminster at 9am to ask if she was okay. Her sister had not put the radio or tv on, but just knew she had to ring her for "some" reason. Psychic! My sister-in-law has a sister in Hemel whose 27 year old son thought "the ghost of Christmas past" had come for him when his bedroom window blew in. "

From: natasha grahm, belsize road..bennetts end : "me and my husband woke up to a terrifick bang, jmped out of bed heard all the neighbours say it was aplane crash, got dressed and went to the dual carriage way,my back garden backs onto it. could see fire andall the residents were walking towards the blaze..got told by police to go back as it was the petrol depot, thank god it wasnt a plane..4yr old son was to scared to go to bed that night and slept in with us,,glad no-one was killed..smoke is still over my house and weve been in all day,..went to get milkfor the baby yesterday and queud for ages cos ppl panick buy for petrol.(stupid).. "

From: paula greenaway:, ockwells gade lower road hh: "how can they with this example of a near disaster close our hospital the town is growing and yet they want to locate our facilities in the middle of a town centre.WATFORD.THIS PLACE IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO HOW CAN THIS BE JUSTIFIED "
From: Sophie : " i was awoken with a bang and everything on my windowsill was blown over, and my bedroom door was pushed open!!! "

From: chris: "it was at around 6.04am on the 11/12/05, i was suddenley awoken by a shocking explosion. my house therefore shook, i wondered what it was, and ventured outside. i could see smoke in the distance and and orange glow. my inisial impressions were a plane has gone down in the local area, but when i found out it was the bunsfield oil area, i was deepley shocked. at around 7am i ventured out to the scene and was amazed at what i saw,huge flames bolting up 6ft in the air. this is one experiance il never forget. "

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From: Jacqui Stearn, Cirencester "My elderly, disabled parents live in Kings Langley and I live some distance away in Gloucestershire. They grow their own fruit and vegetables. I have asked the Environment Agency and Health Protection Agency for advice about whether or not it will be sage for them to eat their own produce following the fire at the oil depot, but none is yet available. Is this an issue that you can cover in the paper once the advice does become available as there must be many people with allotments and growing their own vegetables who will be affected? Do you have any local contacts in allotment societies, or gardening clubs that I can direct my parents to in the coming days? "



From: melissa phillips, ashridge rise berkhamsted: "at 6.00 o clock yesterday morning, i woke up to a loud bang. i thought i was dreaming but then i went down stairs and turned the telly on. the news said that there had been an exploison in hemel hempstead, they said that the exploision could be heard 40 miles away. i thought that this must be what i had heard early on. i went out to the shop when i saw a big cloud of smoke in the distence. i ran back to my house to tell my dad and he ran out to have a look.my dad had a phone call from one of his friends and they were being evacuated. "

From: Sita Bairoliya, Briery Way, Hemel: "Woken up with thunder and earthquack. All house shook, loft hatch/door kept opening and shutting, all floor shaken and rocked. Got up and looked out of window and show fire burning behind the woods and blage going up in the sky. Today wind changed direction andall somke travelling toward the roof of my house. I am not sure what damage has occured to the house. Very worried "

From: robert visser, crawley drive, grovehill hemel hempstead : "On Saturday night at about 12 I heard fireworks going off; so on about 5:55am I heard a loud zinging sound and then a loud bang. At first I thought it was a car that exploded. Until I ran outside I realised the big flames and more explosions going off... "

From: Lin Eldridge, Rannoch Walk Grovehill West Hemel Hempstead Herts: "We were woken up at 6 by a huge bang. Mt husband thought that someone was kicking our front door in. The dog was going mental. I looked out of our window and it looked as though a plane had gone down in our local park. The flames must have been 200-300 foot high. My husband and son got into their car and went to see what it was. We have lived in our house for 22 years, it is about 3/4 mile away from Buncefield and we have always said that it is a case of WHEN it blows not IF. I drove past the terminal two weeks ago on my way back to work and there was thick foam blowing all over the place. When my friend and I looked across, one of the smaller containers had foam all around it. I think that the problems may have been going on since then. "

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From, Edward Snook, Long Cutt Redbourn "I was sleeping on my sofa after coming back from Hemel Jarman Park about 5 hours before the explosion. Anyway I was woken awake by the blast, it made my parents house shake. I got up, I originally thought a car had crashed into the front of the house, the reason for this the road being slippy and us being on a corner.
Well I looked round the house, outside, I saw no damage I was just about to go back to the sofa when I looked through the computer room window and saw what I thought was a tree with christmas lights in it, but I didn't remember going past that tree earlier, so I went to my sister's window and I saw the lights had moved slightly to the right of the tree. This point I told my sister, she swore, we went out in my car originally believing it was St Mary's church just round the corner. We went past the church and then said to each other something was happening on the motorway. We kept driving under the motorway and towards Woodhall Farm, we looked up ahead and everybody had stopped, at this point we saw that the fire was in fact Buncefield, the flame was awesome you could see it easily where we were. We went back home the dog was really upset, we calmed him down and told Mum and Dad they had a look out the window the flame was larger than I had seen originally and you could hear ! seperate explosions at least five times. I just looked out the window and the flame is still massive.

From: Stacey Witney Islington London: Having lived in Hemel and worked for many years not more than a few hundred yards from Buncefield depot, I was completely shocked at what has happened today. Even here in Angel Islington, London, I was awoken by the sound of the expolosion as it shook my windows - that's about 25 miles away! I can't think of the devestation that could of been caused if the events of today had happened during a normal work day along Maylands Avenue. I only hope that Hemel can make a fast recovery from todays devestation.



From: Astyan Smith, Thumpers, Highfield,"I know how hard the explosion has hit all of us in the town, I myself was awake when it happened. It's something I never want to experience again! And we are all hoping and praying for those injured in the blast.
However, on a happier note... I'm sure you've all seen the Christmas lights going up all over the town, the child in me loves to see the displays people dress their houses with these days. I would just like to take time aside to praise one little street that through their residents ass. have yet again furnished us all with a glorious tree, dressed in a fashion fit for Trafalgar Square! The road I not only speak of but live in is Thumpers. So if your passing this way one evening, drive through and take a gander, you'll be pleasantly surprised...


From Miss Hyde, Hemel: "My curtain poles were smashed to the floor and my curtains had been ripped. It was not a pretty site, thankfully no body was killed. "

From: Vicki Alderson, Teesdale "My boyfriend is a firefighter and he is going in to tackle the blaze tomorrow morning. I am extremely worried about his safety considering the scale of the fire and the fact that he will be in such close proximity to not just the flames but also the smoke and heat. I would also like to mention that I am grateful for the prompt actions of all the local emergency services.The effects could have been a lot worse. Perhaps this may demonstrate why our local government should think twice about closing our fire stations and hospitals. "


From: gary pain, victoria road greatyarmouth norfolk "the smoke has now reached great yarmouth "

From: Mark Beddington,Springfield Park Road, Chelmsford Essex "Well, I was just 1 mile away from the explosion at 6.00am. I was outside, putting some trash in my bin, as I was soon leaving for work. And I heard this massive amazing explosion, BANG!!! It was absolutely scary. I was throttled to the ground. I THOUGHT IT WAS A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION, And War was at hand! As I am a religious man, I thought for a second that, that would be the end of the world or something like that. Well, Bye now. "


From: toni-marie picton, nash mills " i'm nealy 13 and i was woke up at about 6.19am this morning. i heard a huge rush of air kind of thing..followed by a huge explosion..me and my family thought it was a plane crash out side our house..it was so scary, we turnt on the t.v and it was on within minutes on chanelle 121. longdean is closed tomorrow because the windows have been smashed an stuff! when we heardn it, me, dad, mum, and my brother cried, me and dad rand into my brothers room where me, dad, and tom (brother) ran to the window to see if we could see anything, we was shouting and crying, and my brother dave who was in a hangover slept throught the whole thing..it really annoyed him coz he sleeps through everything

From: lewis, Hemel: "My nanny woke up at 6.03 am and shouted "Earthquake", and shouted for us all to get out of bed. I woke up and when I looked at my bed it was diagonal."


Name and address supplied: Like Many others I was woken up at 6.00am with the loud bang, thinking that my cat had knocked something over. I got up to see what she had done and found my son had also heard the noise and had got up to investigate too. It was then that we both saw the giant flames and billowing smoke above the houses and realised there had been an explosion at the Buncefield Terminal. The Soffit at the Front of my house has been damaged as has the patio door at the rear of my house. But most of all I thank God that no one was killed and cannot praise the emergency services enough for the most efficient way that they have dealt with this Major catastrophe, all, of which they could not have done so well if we had not have had our Hospital in this town.
So folks, all the more reason to support the fight to keep our hospital in Hemel Hempstead.
From: kim, Hemel: " i slept throught the whole blast. i was aleep and woke up to a black cloud. my bedroom door had slammed shut during the night, but it never woke me. i got up bout 12.00 and the view outside my window was nice. it was clear blue sky. i went to the back of my house, and there was nothing but black sky. it was a scarey thought. there was black smoke outside and i couldnt understand it. my sisters whole flat shock, adn woke up everyone! i just pray that those who have been evacuated and those hurt, will be ok. xx "


From: tristan davis, Hemel:" at 06:03 my family awoke to a huge explosion we live in leverstock green and are yet to be evacuated our roof seemed to lift my wife and children in tears not knowing what was happening, i was still sleepy but remember being in earthquakes in cyprus whilst serving in the royal airforce and also explosions / bombs in conflict i told my wife to stay away from the windows as this was to me obviously an explosion and a repeat blast may well shatter windows, our house has been overcome at times with smoke both my wife and myself suffering from headaces and sore throughts we have a 12 week old baby and a two year old girl we still feel a little forgotten as we have no idea of any evac or corden area !! i got called to my place of work sky ford on the redbourn road where all alarms were going off and windows shattered, ceilings down it took me back to kosavo !!

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From linda stoneman, highfield avenue harpenden herts "when we were woken up here in Harpenden at around 6am this morning we thought there had been a massive clap of thunder, but then we realised that our doors and windows were rattling and shaking. After a few minutes there was an orange glow in the dark sky in the direction of Hemel Hempstead. I thought that a plane had gone down from Luton Airport. It was very frightening. "


From: donna
Address: cobmead
hatfield
herts
" i live in hatfield and heard a big bang at around 6am i thought it was thunder but then feel back to sleep when i went out around 11.30 there was loads of black smoke and you could smell it i did not find out till i went to mums and
see it on the news i was shocked i hope all is well."

From: michelle goldthorp, westerdale hemel hempstead "the explosion woke me and my mum up , from out kitchen window i could see an orange glow which is at the back of the house. everysones lights were on so it woke the whole area up. i went to cambrian way and saw the flames and heard the sirens you could also see the flames from lonsdale. i thought it was a house on fire so i was going to offer my services as a trained first aider but obviously i wouldnt have gone all the way up to buncefield. it was really scary then seeing all the smoke and hearing the other explosions. i am just worried that the smoke will make my mother have a attack as she has asthmerso we r praying we dont have to go to the hospital as there are probably a lot of other people there with breathing difficaulties. all we can se now is a plume of black smoke


From: Paul Yollick, Presbury Way "I am unfortunate enough to live in close proximity to the affected area. Though I was not present at the time of the blast, the property damage is extensive.
"From what I can see from a safe distance the windows have been smashed in (on both car and house) and several parts of my house appear to have melted. At the moment both me and my partner are being tended to by the relief team who are doing an superb job."

From: Sarah Jeffree, St Pauls road Hemel Hempstead "At 6:05 this morning i woke up to a big noise that sounded like thunder.
"My parents woke up aswell.The whole house was shaking 10 seconds afterwards a second big bang then a third. I thought nothing of it and went straight back to sleep. I woke at nine thinking that i was dreaming but something had happened .
" At 9:15 mum came down and asked me if i had felt the house shaking and heard big bangs.I said yes then we looked outside to find the sky just filled with black smoke.
"We had about seven phone calls telling us the same thing the Buncefield oil Depot had blown up. We turned over the television to see the most terrifying pictures on BBC news 24. At about 12:30 my friend called me about the explosion and said his sister was evacuted from leverstock green she was evacuated to jarman park. The clubs have been opened to the evacues until they can get somewhere to stay. "


From: Bob Gray, Holmscroft Road Herne Bay Kent "Heard a rumbling noise about six o'clock this morning which sounded like thunder but took no notice and went back to sleep, only when hearing the news around 8 o'clock did I then realise what it was. Around 8.45 plumes of smoke were visable through binoculars from Herne Bay."
From: Mini Patel Grasmere Road Luton "During the night I was awoken by a force which hit the windows and shoke my bedroom door. I was frightend as I had been woken out of deep sleep by it. I woke up my husband but he stated it must be the wind. I listened but there was not even a breeze last night.I thought it was very strange and after a while of speculating I went back to sleep. This morning when I heard the news about the explosion it all made sense."

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From: Keith Mead, Pritchard way "I raced to the window as soon as I heard the explosion. I couldn't believe it, I just burst into tears. I pray to Jesus no-one is hurt."

Phyllis and Alan White, Hunters Oak
Mr White: "It blew our door open at 6am. We thought it was an earthquake or that a lorry had crashed. My wife has a printer tray and everything had fallen out of that. We thought it was a thunderbolt, we've never heard a noise like it in our lives.
Phyllis: "Our house is that last one down that caught the explosion on this street and the explosion and it completely bent off its rear.."

John Manning, Daily Mirror worker (printing dept), from Highfield, claims he was first on the scene, said: "I was just tucking into a coffee when I heard this massive explosion and I thought it was a lorry. I went over there and saw two people standing outside covered in blood. One had a huge cut on his head and the other just had blood all over him. There were two service guys and two managers and it was the service guys that were hurt not the managers. I looked and all the buildings were crushed, buckled, twisted and falling. Me and this big guy called Colin stayed with then till the police arrived.
Margaret Giggins, Hunters Oak, said: "I thought it was the end of the world, it was terrible this morning. I came downstairs and went to get out of the front door and couldn't so I had to unlock it and when I did a side of the door came away."



From: Bryan Spume connor drive, mayfield, "I heard the explosion at around 6am and rushed outside. You could see the flames from about 6 miles away. A lot of windows were smashed and my dog was a bit shaken up.

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From: Liam McCarthy, Upper Hall Park, Berkhamsted "I woke up at the usual time 7:00 and looked out of the window and felt a little scared. What I thought I saw was a mass of dark, frost cloud but when I looked the other way it was all fresh and clear. But my Mum was looking out of the window and then she told me that there was a huge bank of smoke rising from the air.
"I wasn't too close and my house was OK of the explosion.
"I am very glad It wasn't a toxic or nuclear explosion as everyone in Herts would be suffocating. My Mum's saying that the smoke will be heading off to High Wycombe, where one of my friends house is. Unfortunately, they live in a very high house and I hope they are ok."


From: Gill Janneh
Martian Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, Herts
I live in Martian Avenue about one mile from Bouncefield Depot, I was woken at just after 6am by a large explosion, My whole house was rocked by the bang and my front door was blown off its hinges, when i looked out my bedroom window i could see the whole sky lit up,with fires, none of us were sure whatwas happening at first we thought it was a plane crash or a bomb, i went to see what was happening as i work for the hospital and thought my help might be needed. The whole street was full of people and it took a while for us to realise what is happening. What people need to realise is not to get in the way of the emergency services and let them get on with their job.

From: Ryan McPolin, Bell Lane Little Chalfont Amersham: "Just after 6am an enormous explosion rocked the house. I knew it wasnt lightning, I immediately thought it was a bomb. My bed moved and the whole house shuddered. I was amazed when I found out it was an explosion in Hemel, its so far away. "



From: Frank Kennedy, Haydon Rd, Didcot, oxfordshire "I live in Oxfordshire and work in London. I was a bit late this morning and went into my garage around 6 it has a large metal up and over door. there was a strange noise like a heavy vibration I thought might be traffic outside just on 6 am. I now know it was the noise of the explosion as the door acts like a diaphragm. My thoughts today are with the people of Hemel Hempstead."



From: gail "ithad woken me up, i was thnking it was a thunderstorm untill i saw the blaze of flames outside my window as i live in the housing estate nearby grovehill. I was all shaken up thinking it was a house alight untill the breaking news had appeared on the tv "

From shivam,leverstock green " i was asleep and suddenly at 06:00 i heard a big bang. I thought it was thunder but then me and my brother saw smoke and flames just opposite our house. My brother and my dad went out to have a look but all the roads were blocked of. "

From: David Pile, Waivers Way Aylesbury Bucks "We all woke up at just gone 6am this morning with a shudder, at first we thought a earth tremor, but i went back to sleep thinking it was more like my central heating playing up again! Hemel must be 8 - 10 miles away.


From: Jan Brown
Highfield Lane

Hemel
"Thought l heard a rumble of glass running downing my roof about 6ish
then heard the explosion.Was stunned as l was on my own in the house and wonder
what was happenning as all l coould see was a big light in the sky fading in and
out, actualy though my house was on fire until l went outside and saw the huge
flames in the sky. My loft hatch blew down along with a panel in my kitchen.
Really scary..........."

From The Pickett family, toms croft adeyfield hemel 01442 "as we look out my mums window its black with smoke...woke up this moring n thought it was thunder."

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