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
- the explosion was heard on continental Europe
- required 180 fire fighters to fight the blaze for four days
- injured 45 people and displaced 16,500 workers
- blew windows out 3km away
- resulted in 2,000 residents being placed in temporary accommodation by the Council
Recovery Issues
The Buncefield oil storage depot explosion
- destroyed 20 business premises,
- affecting 500 employees,
- made a further 60 premises unusable for many months,
- and affected 3,500 personnel.
- Over 90 businesses were severely affected directly by total or partial destruction of property or indirectly through restricted access to premises and business assets.
- Total businesses losses have been assessed to be in the order of £100m, with some reporting approximately 200 job losses.
- Numerous businesses had to relocate staff to other sites.
For any comments or queries concerning this page, please contact the London Resilience Team via enquiries-lrt.gol@go-regions.gsi.gov.uk.