Edinburgh fire: Panic as fireball erupts over chemical plant
PANIC has spread across Edinburgh tonight after a huge blaze erupted at a chemical plant near Scotland's capital.
Edinburgh: Huge fire lights up night sky in Scotland
In pictures seen tonight, a huge fire has sparked at the Mossmorran chemical plant. On social media, worried residents shared pictures showing the huge orange blaze in the night sky. Such was the power of the blaze, residents in Edinburgh could see the fire light up the sky although the plant is located in Fife.
The chemical plant has come under scrutiny following an elevated flaring at the site on Sunday - which is also what happened tonight.
The first incident had taken place at the site on 3.30am after being reported by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
ExxonMobil, who own the plan near Cowdenbeath on the east coast, have pledged to launch an investigation into why Sunday's incident took place.
A statement for tonight's incident has not yet been released by ExxonMobil.
One person said on Twitter: "Like a volcano on the doorstep!!
"Edinburgh should be worried - not only Fife.
"Experts warned of this from planning stage."
Another person: "Why is there a blazing fire in the distance in Edinburgh’s skyline?
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"I’m on the outskirts and it’s neon orange."
Following the flare on Sunday, SEPA's head of environmental performance, Chris Dailly, confirmed an investigation will now take place.
"Whilst limited, controlled flaring is an authorised and important safety feature of industrial sites, we know it has been happening too often at Mossmorran and the community impacts are often significant.
"Whilst we don't know yet from the company the cause of the latest flaring or expected duration, we will provide further updates as soon as further information becomes available."
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SEPA also has monitors to analyse the damage to air quality or if permit conditions have been violated.
The agency also confirmed they had received 380 complaints over the incident.
Following Sunday's flare, ExxonMobil did apologise to the local residents and stated there had been a "process interruption".
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They tweeted on Sunday: "As our team undertakes the safe re-start of our compressor, you may see some fluctuations in our elevated flare tonight.
"We will continue to minimise the size of the flare wherever possible and apologise again for any frustration caused by this work."
