Buncefield fire - possible pollution?

From this morning's Guardian:

Much of south-east England was braced last night to experience black toxic rain as oily soot from the burning of almost 16m litres of oil, aircraft fuel and petrol started to fall over the region and the plume of gases reached ground level in some areas.

As someone who lives no more than an hour's drive from the Hemel Hempstead oil depot that went up in flames on Sunday morning, the impact on the soil and our health is now taking over from my initial concerns about casualties. (Which were remarkably few, considering the scale of what the fire service called an "apocalyptic" blaze.)

I've found some useful information which I thought I'd pass on to anyone who's concerned. The Met Office is tracking the plume of smoke and "reports in the media that polluted or acid rain will fall over London tonight are incorrect". And the Health Protection Agency says the following in its handy Q&A in answer to people worried that their garden is covered in a layer of soot:

The soot is basically just carbon dust, although it may contain some irritant chemicals. Because of its size it is unlikely that it could be inhaled if disturbed and so would be unlikely to cause any respiratory symptoms. It can safely be washed off cars and furniture. Further tests are taking place to establish what, if any, chemicals are in the soot.

The HPA also advises that "If any fruits and vegetables in the garden have been covered by a sooty deposit it would be advisable to wash them thoroughly and peel them before they are eaten."

I also saw a toxicologist being interviewed on Sky News (unfortunately I didn't catch his name) who said he thought the risk to agriculture was minimal.

But it's early days yet, and I'd be interested to hear of any more expert views on how toxic the soot is likely to be: to us and our gardens.

Comments

[brian]

I'd gather that it's not too bad. As she said, mostly carbon, since it was straight oil. Of course I'm not a chemist. We live about 60m from a major road and I often wonder about my produce in pots around the house, but when I think about the pollution in major agricultural areas here in California, I think that what my plants have in terms of dust is probably nothing compared to what is on all produce grown in the Central Valley.

Wash carefully, and I wouldn't worry too much.

- brian