King's Cross Fire of 1987

[Andrew Tiffin]

It's been 21 years since that King's Cross fire.

Seconds from Disaster English videos
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn-MhfE8GoY&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZRXqtlENU&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VjKPg4ATScE&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=csHNfFnTtQg&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EUsAkXdN6fE&feature=related

Netherlands videos
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4mJBShlMNms&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IRzTLLLjlT0&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dHQpC7I1To4&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dYg2YNQZciI&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf4_uz0OrnE&feature=related

 

[Bayum]

Scary to think, that the tube trains themselves, and the diagonal of the escalator, was the thing that made the fire so bad =/

 

[Andrew Tiffin]

And there were 3 escalators instead of 2.

 

[laseandre]

That never had an effect?

 

[Death]

Scary to think, that the tube trains themselves, and the diagonal of the escalator, was the thing that made the fire so bad =/

It's kind of worrying indeed, I'll agree with ye on that. When I was working at LuL Acton Town, the fire safety video that we were shown drew a lot on what was learned from the Kings Cross fire, and it went into full details as to how the air pressure and inclination of the escalator shafts contributed to the problem, plus the relative mismanagement of evacuation of the station - Insted of emptying trains at previous stations and using them to evacuate the platforms (Or directing people out of the exit at the other end of the station), they tried to evacuate people at the Kings Cross end, if I remember correctly. hock:ad:

On the other hand; The main cause of the fire was a crushing loophole in the smoking regulations at the time that - Though banning smoking on the trains - Still allowed people to smoke on the platforms. Had that loophole been plugged beforehand, the Kings Cross fire would never have happened in the first place.

Mind ye, some of what I learned of the Kings Cross fire has proven useful to me in a rather surprising way. Not long ago, I came up with a design of self-ventilating forge that used a tapered tube feeding into the base of the forge, angled at 45° with a small fire near the lower end of the tube to keep pre-heated air flowing into and through the tube into the main furnace.

The design of the forge was directly inspired by how the escalator shafts at Kings Cross accentuated the fire in the ticket hall (In this design of forge, the tube is the escalator shaft and the main forge itself is the ticket hall) and as a design it works quite well - No fans, pumps or bellows required! hock:

 

[devon_metro]

Thanks for posting Andrew - very interesting even with the clueless American narrator.

 

[Mojo]

Thanks for posting Andrew - very interesting even with the clueless American narrator.

"Europe... England... London..." classic

 

[me123]

I have to wonder what the toob is. I've never heard of the toob before...

 

[DavyCrocket]

The type of paint used also was a key factor in the way the fire took hold.

Of course the Kings Cross fire followed a less serious one at Oxford Circus and a number of others that may not have made the media. They may never have happened if cleaning standards were not severely reduced and staff that usually kept things clean were got rid of.
Things may not have been so bad if evacuations had been managed as they are now - very well.

The aftermath and the Fennell report findings changed a lot of the culture. If you go into an escalator machine room then you will find them very clean and the fire regulations are very tight.

It did change the culture - though lead onto Company Plan - where LU were incouraged to buy in services and farm off what they could to private firms - but that's another story!
Something like this should never be allowed to happen again

 

[P156KWJ]

I have to wonder what the toob is. I've never heard of the toob before...

and the Derbie-shire countryside :???:

 

[DavyCrocket]

and the Derbie-shire countryside :???:

Also amusing is Edinburgh, Scotland, England!

 

[Tom B]

On the other hand; The main cause of the fire was a crushing loophole in the smoking regulations at the time that - Though banning smoking on the trains - Still allowed people to smoke on the platforms. Had that loophole been plugged beforehand, the Kings Cross fire would never have happened in the first place.

Wasn't it banned entirely - only, people were in the habit of lighting their cigarette whilst on the escalators, rather than once they were outwith the station?

 

[dan_atki]

I was always of the impression that at the time it was banned but not at all enforced. After the fire had occurred, however, the ban was very heavily enforced (and rightly so).

 

[Death]

Wasn't it banned entirely - only, people were in the habit of lighting their cigarette whilst on the escalators, rather than once they were outwith the station?

From what I can remember of the LuL fire safety video that they showed us back in 2001CE: Though smoking was officially banned on Underground (trains), there was a loophole in the law that still allowed people to smoke on the platforms and anywhere except on board trains. :?

If that law had been better written out, then maybe such a tragedy wouldn't have happened in the first place. Though I'm a smoker myself, even if it was still permitted on the Tube I'd be waiting to get topside before lighting up. Aside from the smoke being highly unpleasant for non-smokers around me, even in Winter I get badly dehydrated on the Underground as it is! hock::roll:

Addendum: I can't seem to find the actual training video that I'm referring to, although - If I get the time - I'll try and e-mail Acton ATC and see if they have a digital copy that I can post on YouTube. In the meantime, here's some ITN news footage from the following night:

[youtube]sj21xNbNKBQ[/youtube]​

 

[djw1981]

Whilst not wishing to underplay the extremely traumatic experience which this must have been for those involved as passengers, staff, or emergency services, I found http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3415473.stm particularly saddening, both in 2004, and now.

Maybe it's just been one of those weeks though

 

[me123]

That is very sad indeed. But it does show how amazing modern science is; identifying a victim 16 years post mortem is some feat. And it'll have helped the family, finally knowing for certain what's happened to their relative.

 

[djw1981]

It's hardly that amazing.......we had all the constituent bits of information. It was the computer linking a MisPer report made in Scotland with the one remaining body after Kings Cross. After all it was only circumstantial that the family had not heard from him after that day. The DNA identification method has been around sine the early 1990's at least. Why they didn't do it earlier may be as much a function of family pressure and police data sharing as much as modern science.

 

[mbonwick]

I guess it could be the size of the DNA sample available from the body? It's only in recent years that we've got better at using smaller samples.

 

[djw1981]

Yeah, but recently was 1995.......

 

[A60K]

Just to clarify the smoking ban: until the Oxford Circus fire in 1984 you could smoke in about 1 in 3 carriages, and anywhere on the stations. After the Oxford Circus fire smoking was banned on all trains and beyond the ticket barrier on stations. This caused many more cigarettes to be lit as passengers went up escalators on the way out of stations, vastly increasing the risk of escalator fires. LU didn't appreciate the increased risk at the time, and as a result it was sadly almost inevitable that a fire like King's Cross would happen somewhere - and sooner rather than later. KX happened three years after Oxford Circus, but there had been close shaves in that time - the official report details these.