Will fumes and fallout from the oil depot explosion affect the surrounding areas? Dave Willis: We're continuing to work closely with the Health Protection Agency and are investigating both the extent and the impact of the smoke plume. That analysis is continuing, but based on the type of the fuel based at the site, we don't currently believe that there is any significant long term impact on the environment. So even though the fire's been burning for two days, it won't harm the environment? | "We don't currently believe that there is any significant long term impact on the environment." | | Dave Willis, Environment Agency |
Dave Willis: We're looking at dealing with the immediate issues with our partner organisations and other agencies but we're also looking at the long term impact, and as I say, based on current information, and what we know about the type of fuel stored, we don't currently believe there'll be a significant long term risk to the environment. Is the air quality fine? Dave Willis: The air quality is an issue in terms of the health impact which is led by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and out advice on that one is that the public listen to the HPA and follow the ongoing advice that they're giving. Our focus has been on assessing the environmental impact of the event and working with other agencies to minimise the damage
What about all the water and foam that the fire brigade are pumping in? Dave Willis: Yes - one of the key concerns for us was ensuring that the water that was used to fight the fire and also the foam was contained on the site and that could have had serious pollution impacts on rivers and the ground water quality. We've been working very closely with the fire service to ensure that measures have been taken to avoid that happening. | 
