After almost 60 hours battling against the biggest blaze in peacetime Europe, firefighters had this evening conquered the fires in all of the fuel tanks at the Buncefield oil depot.

Fierce periphery fires continued to burn, fuelled by gas leaks from shattered pipes and valves, but senior officers were confident that the last isolated blazes would soon be entirely contained.

Most of the 2,000 residents evacuated from a 10-mile radius of the plant near Hemel Hempstead were returning to their homes after two days in hotels and emergency hostels.

After dumping more than 15 millions of foam and water on 20 fires which began at the Hertfordshire depot at 6am on Sunday, Roy Wilsher, the county's chief fire officer, said that his exhausted team had been "magnificent".

Firefighters will continue to spray foam and water to cool the tanks even when the flames have disappeared as emergency services prepare for a massive clean-up operation inside the security cordon.

All surrounding schools have been closed, but public health officials said that they should be reopened tomorrow if the dark plume of smoke above the plant dissipates as expected. Locals were told to remain indoors with windows shut tonight as the soot began to fall

With the emergency over, the recriminations have already begun: the Fire Brigades’ Union condemned Hertfordshire Fire Service as "woefully" ill prepared for the inferno. Geoff Ellis, a national officer for the union, led calls for a public inquiry. The criticisms were dismissed by fire officers.

Initial tests suggest that surrounding water sources have not been contaminated and there is no sign yet of any serious knock-on effects on public health or the environment.

Mike Penning, the Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, has called today for a public inquiry into why the fire started, and whether residents should be living so close to such a depot.

He pointed out that when the depot was built in the 1960s, it was nowhere near houses, but planning decisions since then meant they had moved closer and closer. Some 10,000 more homes were planned in the coming years.

"Things have moved on since the Sixties and that needs to move on further away from my residents so they can sleep safe at night," he said.

Health officials have said that they hoped the smoke would not cause widespread problems in the South East.

Dr Jane Halpin, director of public health at the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Strategic Health Authority, said that there had been "very low levels" of people presenting themselves or seeking advice. She said that the very young, the very elderly and people with respiratory conditions were most at risk from contact with the smoke.

Agriculture experts have been assessing any possible effects the fall-out might have on fruit and vegetables and the effects if it entered the digestive systems of farm animals. But council officials reassured residents that foam landing in gardens and parks around Hemel Hempstead was not toxic.

Despite the scale of the blasts, only two people were seriously injured out of a total of 43 casualties.

Buncefield, the country’s fifth largest fuel distribution depot, is operated by Total and part-owned by Texaco, storing oil and petrol as well as kerosene, and supplies airports across the region, including Heathrow and Luton airports. The depot is also used by BP, Shell and British Pipeline.

Total has set up a helpline - 0870 400 0499 - for those who have suffered damage to their property and offered assistance to the emergency services and Salvation Army in helping the community.

The explosions sparked some panic buying of petrol among motorists, despite reassurances from the oil industry that it had plans to deal with such an emergency.

Downing Street has urged drivers not to rush to the pumps but has acknowledged there could be "short-term local difficulties".

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