This week marks 20 years since the Buncefield explosion in Hertfordshire, which saw 29 Bucks schools close and a High Wycombe man knocked unconscious.
The explosion, which rocked Hemel Hempstead and shocked surrounding towns, was one of the largest industrial incidents in Europe and the UK's largest peacetime explosion.
Buckinghamshire schools, mostly in Amersham, Chesham and Little Chalfont, closed on the Monday and Tuesday after the blast amid health advice warning people living close to the incident to stay indoors with their doors and windows shut to reduce smoke exposure.
The explosion was so intense that at the time of the incident, Bucks Fire and Rescue Service reported that a man in Prestwood was insisting that the explosion had happened there.
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In the early hours of December 11 2005, a storage tank at the Buncefield oil storage depot overfilled, releasing a massive petrol vapour cloud that spread beyond the site perimeter and ignited.
A High Wycombe security guard was knocked unconscious in an office block next door as the depot exploded.
Raheel Ashraf, from Plumer Road, aged 26 at the time, said: "As far as I could see, all of the building around me had been blown away and I was sitting practically on the edge of the concrete ceiling."
The resulting explosions and fires caused widespread damage and disruption, forcing thousands of residents and businesses to evacuate.
Two fire crews from Bucks, along with 14 others, spent three days tackling the fuel depot fire.
Remarkably, no lives were lost.
However, the impact on people, property and the environment was profound.
More than 2,000 homes and 600 businesses were affected, with damage extending several kilometres beyond the site.
The incident left a lasting mark on the local community and fundamentally changed the UK's approach to managing major hazard risks.
One of the most extensive industrial investigations in UK history followed, run jointly by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA).
The investigation identified systematic failings in tank level monitoring, overfill prevention and safety management systems.
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Weak oversight and inadequate controls allowed large quantities of petrol to overflow undetected, leading to the release of a vapour cloud that ignited with catastrophic force.
Following the investigation, the operating companies and site owners were successfully prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The courts imposed multi-million-pound fines, setting a precedent for accountability in major hazard industries.
The case outcomes reinforced the responsibility of operators to maintain robust systems for preventing and mitigating major accidents and the importance of Process Safety Leadership.
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