Britain: Yesterday's blast in Hemel Hempstead woke startled residents as their homes literally shook from the force of the explosion.
The blast could be felt up to 40 miles away, with flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air.
A huge pall of dense black smoke hung over the Buncefield oil terminal after the first blast at 6am, which was followed by two smaller explosions 20 minutes later.
Norrie Vine, a 71-year-old taxi driver, was thrown from a chair in his flat in Wood Close, near Wood Lane End, Hemel Hempstead, when the blast happened.
He said he initially thought it was a bomb going off.
"At first I thought it was an al-Qaeda thing. I have lived around the world and I know what explosions sound like," said Mr Vine.
It felt like the "force of a 2,000lb bomb. It was a pretty horrific thing.
"I was asleep in my chair when I nearly got blown out of my flat. There was just one huge explosion and then everything shook.
"I am all right, I have just one broken window and insulation from the roof has come down because the explosion blew open the trap door in the ceiling. "It was terrifying. I thought that it was going to be the end of me. Everything was shaking," he added.
"I got lifted out of my chair and dumped back on the ground."
Mr Vine said there were several shockwaves after the first blast and everybody ran into the cul-de-sac before being moved out by police.
"I am going to stay here for now and have my cup of coffee. More than two miles away at a block of houses overlooking the site, windows were shattered," he added.
One resident peered through the broken glass, gazing at the inferno in front of his house. Calum Russell, a spokesman for the Ramada Hotel, in Hemel Hempstead, said all 187 residents had been evacuated following the blast but had now been allowed to return and the hotel was fully operating again.
"Two guests suffered minor cuts," he said. "They were treated by trained first aiders at the hotel."
He said the hotel suffered minor damage, such as broken glass.
Mark Mulholand, an eye witness, told Sky News that many workers he went to help were in a state of shock.
"I spoke to one security guard. He said his colleague was bleeding from the ears and had perforated his ear drum."
Among those evacuated was a group of about 70 people living at a Gypsy caravan site on Cherry Tree Lane.
As the blaze continued to rage, yet more people gave their version of events.
Hara Babu (30) who lives in Leverstock Green, only a couple of miles from the fuel depot, woke up to find the windows of his house had been broken.
"It was about six o'clock this morning that I heard a large bang and all my windows were shattered," the software engineer said.
"I was very scared and went to look out of the window to see what was going on - there was a big wall of flames. First of all I thought it was a huge bomb blast."
Chris Batty (46) lives on Woolmer Drive, also in Leverstock Green, in a large block of flats overlooking the fuel depot.
"I was in bed when the explosion went off. All the windows rattled and the back door banged and I looked out to see what it was.
"At first it was hard to tell what had happened, but then there was a huge ball of flames rising up in the sky, Mr Batty said.
Tanker driver Paul Turner told BBC Radio Five Live he had just arrived for work at the depot when the explosion occurred.
"I just saw this great big ball of fire come up from behind the building. It was about 50 metres wide.
"Then there was the loudest explosion I have ever heard in my life. It took me off my feet," he said.
"I'm not really sure whether my knees buckled or whether it was the blast which took me off my feet. I was just in shock at that time.
"I got up, turned around and ran to my car and sped out of there as fast as I could."
Humphrey Alan (57) an insurance broker who lives two miles from the scene of the explosions, said he was woken by the sensation that the building was moving.
"Things were moving, that woke me up, it was moving like an earthquake for about three seconds then - bang - a really loud bang and sounded to me as if there had been a 100mph wind suddenly around the building," he said.
"I looked outside the window and thought, have we been attacked?" - (PA)
