Details of mystery explosion revealed for first time

A CHEMICAL emergency involving 40 barrels of highly reactive sodium cost the council around £200,000 and could have seen the evacuation of 6,400 homes, it has been revealed. Birmingham City Council has vowed to recoup the costs, but for now has been left saddled with two tonnes of the material, the largest amount in its metallic form in Western Europe.

The incident brought the area surrounding the junction of Windermere Road and Oxhill Road, in Handsworth, to a halt on November 14, as dozens of firefighters descended on a garage blaze. Now the full details of the chemical alert have been revealed by an Environmental Health report.

The flames were quickly extinguished, but a 200-litre barrel of the soft metal had exploded causing the initially unknown material to erupt onto Windermere Road.

The fire service was informed that the material was sodium, a soft white metal that can be cut with a knife, and explodes violently on contact with water.

Police set up a large cordon and emergency response officers from the council also attended. West Midlands Fire Service stated they would remove everyone within half a mile of the garage if the sodium could not be removed, the report said. The zone contained 7,000 properties including 6,400 homes.

Around 40 barrels were stored inside the unit, some stacked on top of each other.

Rainwater had leaked into the garage, rotting the barrels, and had entered one of the containers causing the explosion.

Firefighters were able to cover the other barrels with tarpaulin to avert a more serious incident. The council served a notice on the property owner for permission to remove the drums and hired London-based waste specialists to carry out the work.

The clear-up cost the council around £25,000. But there is no market for sodium to be sold at the moment and it will have to be repackaged and incinerated, costing up to a further £175,000.

The authority is looking to use its emergency contingency funds but is intending to charge the costs to the owner of the property.