Union Slams Fire Bosses
Updated: 22:08, Tuesday December 13, 2005
Firefighters in Hertfordshire were not prepared for anything like the enormous blaze that burned for days at an oil depot, according to the Fire Brigades Union.
In an extraordinary attack, union bosses said the service was "woefully prepared" and demanded a public inquiry into why it took so long to put out the fire.
The main fires in the oil tanks at the Buncefield site have all been extinguished.
But the union accused Hertfordshire Fire Authority of having almost no ability within the brigade to attack the oil fire with foam.
A statement said: "It took over 24 hours after the start of the fire before there was enough foam for the fire to be attacked.
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"The brigade has no policy or planning for dealing with any major incident requiring foam. It has no specialist foam vehicles and no large stocks of foam. There are no officers with specialist training to deal with a major oil fire."
Firefighters who battled for more than 60 hours to put the flames out dismissed the union's criticism.
Hertfordshire's chief fire officer Roy Wilsher said it was inaccurate and opportunistic.
He said the efforts of his firefighters had been "magnificent".
He said: "I am stunned by the inaccuracy and venom of this release from the FBU.
"Their claims are utter nonsense and this is pure opportunism of the worst possible kind."
Lynn Donaldson, director of logistics at Total UK, which part-owns the depot, told Sky News all safety precautions had been put in place.
She said: "It's impossible to re-create something of this scale and the procedures in place mean we've been able to deal with this very successfully with the fire service."
I find it very harsh about this, no way there needs to be an inquiry into the fire service, they have been there very long.
Some things just happen, thats the way it is, they have done the best they can.
