Firefighters attacked an inferno raging at an oil depot north of London, spraying chemical foam onto the flames Monday after resolving concerns that attempts to extinguish the fire could contaminate the water supply. "We are in uncharted territory. This is the largest fire of this kind that the U.K. and Europe have dealt with," Roy Wilsher, chief fire officer in Hertfordshire county, told a news briefing. "We are not even sure how the thermal current will affect the foam that is being applied _ it might just vaporize it." A thick black plume of smoke continued to billow from the Buncefield fuel depot 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of London, the fifth-largest fuel depot in Britain. Left to itself, the fire might burn for three days, Wilsher said. The fire began with a series of explosions before sunrise Sunday, shattering windows and blowing doors off nearby homes in Hertfordshire. Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental. Most of the 43 people injured were treated for cuts and bruises from the flying glass of broken windows. Two men with more serious injuries remained in local hospitals Sunday night, and one was released Monday, Hertfordshire Police said, according to a report of The Associated Press. Wilsher said 20 or more tanks at the facility had been destroyed, but that firefighters had managed to protect seven others through the night. "We are using 32,000 liters of water a minute from two separate attack points," Wilsher told reporters.
