ASTHMA sufferers and the elderly are the most likely to feel health effects from the plume of black smoke from yesterday’s explosions.

While staff at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital said that the initial casualty influx was over by early afternoon, extra beds and intensive care facilities have been set aside for anyone suffering complications as a result of the smoke hanging over the area.

Howard Borkett-Jones, medical director, said staff had been told the smoke was of “low toxicity”, but they were prepared for some respiratory problems. “Those could include feelings of tightness in the chest or coughing,” he said.

Anyone experiencing the symptoms should contact their GP or go to their local accident and emergency unit, he said. “Most chemical incidents of this sort will produce nonspecific irritation and inflammation to the respiratory system and sometimes to the skin if it is a higher level of exposure.”

Residents living close to the site were told to stay inside their homes with their doors and windows closed.

Professor Warren Lenney, of the British Lung Foundation, said the consequences of inhaling soot particles from the acidic thick black smoke could cause swelling to the lungs and even affect the brain. “The trouble is there are all sorts of different chemicals in the smoke,” he said. “Petroleum products are known to produce a whole series of nasty acidic chemicals, as well as carbon monoxide. It is potentially possible that all of these will be inhaled. Obviously, the nearer you are to where the fire is, the worse it can be.”

Professor Lenney, consultant paediatrician at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, said side effects could include coughing, difficulty in breathing and a lack of concentration as oxygen levels drop in the brain.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if more calls to GP surgeries and drop-in centres are made over the coming days, especially from those who have chronic lung disease and asthma.”

Jane Halpin, director of public health for the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire health authority, said the main threat was to people already suffering from asthmatic conditions. “The potential health effects, particularly in the short term, are really only likely to affect people who have respiratory illnesses,” she said.

The fire largely consisted of burning fuels, which would ultimately have been burned in engines or boilers. But the process will have been less efficient than in an engine, generating the clouds of carbon particles that make the smoke black.

Other materials will have been burned, too, potentially producing carcinogenic dioxins in the smoke. There may also be traces of another carcinogen, benzene, but there is little point worrying about either of these unless and until they are identified.

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